also spitoon, 1811, American English, from spit (n.1) + -oon. A rare instance of a word formed in English using this suffix (octoroon is another). Replaced earlier spitting box (1680s).
Entries linking to spittoon
spit n.1
"saliva," early 14c., from spit (v.1). Meaning "the very likeness" in modern use is attested from 1825 (as in spitting image, attested from 1887); compare French craché in same sense. Spit-curl (1831) was originally considered colloquial or vulgar. Military phrase spit and polish first recorded 1895.
-oon
spelling conventional in 15c.-17c. English to add emphasis to borrowed French nouns ending in stressed -on; also used to represent Italian -one, Spanish -ón; all from Latin -onem. Compare shalloon (1670s) for French chalon, a kind of material used for linings. The ending is used occasionally to form words in English, such as spittoon, quadroon, and some older ones no longer with us, such as shabberoon "disreputable person" (c. 1700).
octoroon n.
"offspring of a quadroon and a white," 1861, an irregular formation from Latin octo "eight" (see eight) + suffix abstracted from quadroon (in which the suffix actually is -oon). So called for having one-eighth Negro blood.