spare [OE] In the senses ‘left over, extra’, and ‘to avoid harming’, spare is an Old English word, but the spare in spare ribs is quite different. Spare ribs probably comes from the old German word ribbesper, which meant ‘pickled pork ribs roasted on a spit’. Once English speakers started using the German term in the 16th century they soon swapped the two parts round to make it sound more like an English word (compare sideburns at people to word (eponyms)).