speak
See also: -speak
English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English speken (“to speak”), from Old English specan (“to speak”). This is usually taken to be an irregular alteration of earlier sprecan (“to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, from Proto-Germanic *sprekaną (“to speak, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *spreg- (“to make a sound, utter, speak”). Finding this proposed loss of r from the stable cluster spr unparalleled, Hill instead sets up a different root, Proto-West Germanic *spekan (“to negotiate”) from Proto-Indo-European *bʰégʾ-e- (“to distribute”) with *s-mobile, which collapsed in meaning with *sprekan ("to speak" < "to crackle, prattle") and so came to be seen as a free variant thereof.
Cognates:
Cognate with West Frisian sprekke, Low German spreken (“to speak”), Dutch spreken (“to speak”), German sprechen (“to speak”), and also with Albanian shpreh (“to utter, voice, express”) through Indo-European.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /spiːk/
- (General American) enPR: spēk, IPA(key): /spik/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (UK); “to speak”: (file) - Rhymes: -iːk
Verb
[edit]speak (third-person singular simple present speaks, present participle speaking, simple past spoke or (archaic) spake, past participle spoken or (colloquial, nonstandard) spoke)
- (intransitive) To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203:
- And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.
- I was so surprised I couldn't speak.
- You're speaking too fast.
- (intransitive, reciprocal) To have a conversation.
- It's been ages since we've spoken.
- (by extension) To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
- He spoke of it in his diary.
- Speak to me only with your eyes.
- Actions speak louder than words.
- 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 4:
- Then said the gods, making the signs of the gods and speaking with Their hands lest the silence of Pegāna should blush; then said the gods to one another, speaking with Their hands: “Let Us make worlds to amuse Ourselves while Māna rests. Let Us make worlds and Life and Death, and colours in the sky; only let Us not break the silence upon Pegāna.”
- 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Open House”, in Open House; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, 1975, →ISBN, page 3:
- The deed will speak the truth
In language strict and pure.
I stop the lying mouth:
Rage warps my clearest cry
To witless agony.
- (intransitive) To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.
- This evening I shall speak on the topic of correct English usage.
- (transitive, stative) To be able to communicate in a language.
- He speaks Mandarin fluently.
- (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
- 1998, Nigel G Fielding, Raymond M Lee, Computer Analysis and Qualitative Research[1], page 4:
- Even those who did 'speak computer' did so sometimes in a less than fluent way which required a jump to be made from a press-the-right-button stage to having the confidence to experiment.
- (transitive) To utter.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 9:5:
- And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
- I was so surprised that I couldn't speak a word.
- (transitive) To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
- 1785, Frances Burney, Diary and letters of Madame d'Arblay, author of Evelina, Cecilia, &c., link:
- Their behaviour to each other speaks the most cordial confidence and happiness.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “A Bosom Friend.”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 56:
- There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits.
- (informal, transitive, sometimes humorous) To understand (as though it were a language).
- Sorry, I don't speak idiot.
- So you can program in C. But do you speak C++?
- (intransitive) To produce a sound; to sound.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 150:
- Make all our trumpets speak.
- Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 220:
- Miles tremblingly confessed that it had, but to no purpose; a parrot being able to speak better in three weeks than a brazen head.
- (transitive, archaic) To address; to accost; to speak to.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus 13:6:
- [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair.
- 1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 239:
- Each village senior paused to scan / And speak the lovely caravan.
- 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
- To oversee all the details yourself in person; to be at once pilot and captain, and owner and underwriter; to buy and sell and keep the accounts; to read every letter received, and write or read every letter sent; to superintend the discharge of imports night and day; to be upon many parts of the coast almost at the same time—often the richest freight will be discharged upon a Jersey shore;—to be your own telegraph, unweariedly sweeping the horizon, speaking all passing vessels bound coastwise; [...]
- 2013, George Francis Dow, Slave Ships and Slaving (quoting an older text)
- Spoke the ship Union of Newport, without any anchor. The next day ran down to Acra, where the windlass was again capsized and the pawls broken.
Usage notes
[edit]- Saying that one speaks a language often means that one can or knows how to speak it (“I speak Italian”); similarly, “I don’t speak Italian” usually means that one cannot, rather than that one chooses not to.
Conjugation
[edit]Conjugation of speak
| infinitive | (to) speak | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | speak | spoke | |
| 2nd-person singular | speak, speakest† | spoke, spokest† | |
| 3rd-person singular | speaks, speaketh† | spoke | |
| plural | speak | ||
| subjunctive | speak | spoke | |
| imperative | speak | — | |
| participles | speaking | spoken | |
Synonyms
[edit]Antonyms
[edit]Coordinate terms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Single-word or hyphenated terms derived from speak (verb)
- bespeak
- forespeak
- forspeak
- forthspeak
- misspeak
- outspeak
- overspeak
- public speaking
- speakable
- speaker
- speakeasy
- speakworthy
- re-speak
- unspeak
- unspeakable
- upspeak
- withspeak
phrasal verbs
idioms
- actions speak louder than words
- as she is spoke
- on speaking terms
- so to speak
- speak as one finds
- speak for oneself
- speak highly of
- speak ill of
- speak in circles
- speak in tongues
- speak of the devil
- speak one's mind
- speak softly and carry a big stick
- speak someone's language
- speak volumes
- speak with one voice
- spoken for
others (may need to be in above sections, i.e. this is an unsorted dump of Derived terms)
- as we speak
- broadly speaking
- bullspeak
- can I speak to the manager haircut
- climate-speak
- does anyone here speak English
- dollar-speaking
- do you speak English
- even as we speak
- evil-speaking
- facts speak louder than words
- free-speaking
- generally speaking
- give someone a speaking to
- home-speaking
- how many languages do you speak
- I don't speak English
- in a manner of speaking
- in a way of speaking
- I want to speak to the manager haircut
- like speaking to a brick wall
- like speaking to a wall
- native-speaking
- not to speak of
- on speaking terms
- oul-spoken
- plain-speaking
- plain-spoken
- please speak more slowly
- public speaking
- roughly speaking
- short-spoken
- smooth-spoken
- speak by the card
- speak down to
- speak highly
- speak in dollars
- speaking in tongues
- speaking of
- speaking terms
- speaking trumpet
- speaking tube
- speaking voice
- speaking with tongues
- speak in terms
- speak like a book
- speak now or forever hold your peace
- speak of
- speak of the devil and he appears
- speak of the devil and he shall appear
- speak one's conscience
- speak out of turn
- speak too soon
- speak truth to power
- speak with a forked tongue
- spoken for
- spoken pause
- spoken word
- strictly speaking
- to speak of
- well-spoken
- what languages do you speak
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to communicate with one's voice using words
| ||||
to have a conversation
|
to communicate or converse by some means other than orally
|
to deliver a speech
|
to be able to communicate in a language
|
to utter
to communicate a fact or feeling
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
[edit]speak (countable and uncountable, plural speaks)
- (uncountable) language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.
- corporate speak; IT speak
- (countable) Speech, conversation. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (countable, informal) Short for speaker point.
- We will deduct speaks for hesitation.
Derived terms
[edit]Terms derived from speak (noun)
Translations
[edit]jargon/terminology
Noun
[edit]speak (plural speaks)
References
[edit]- Hill, Eugen. "Die Präferenztheorie in der historischen Phonologie aus junggrammatischer Perspektive." Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 28.2 (2009): 231–263.
Anagrams
[edit]Scots
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Old English sprecan.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]speak (third-person singular simple present speaks, present participle speakin, simple past spak, past participle spoken)
- to speak
Derived terms
[edit]Derived terms
- bespeak
- fair-spoken (“frank, friendly, suave”)
- ill-speak (“slander”)
- ill-speakin (“slanderous”)
- speak a wird tae (“admonish”)
- speak wi (“speak to (someone)”)
- speak a wird (“listen to what is going to be said”)
- speak back (“reply, retort”)
- unspeakable
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːk
- Rhymes:English/iːk/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English reciprocal verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English stative verbs
- English informal terms
- English humorous terms
- English terms with archaic senses
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English short forms
- English dated terms
- English class 4 strong verbs
- English irregular verbs
- en:Talking
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs