speak

Etymology
From, from. This is usually taken to be an irregular alteration of earlier, from , from , from. Finding this proposed loss of r from the stable cluster spr unparalleled, Hill instead sets up a different root, from  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.

Cognate with 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, and also with 🇨🇬 through Indo-European.

Verb

 * 1)  To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
 * 2)  To have a conversation.
 * 3)  To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
 * 4)  To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.
 * 5)  To be able to communicate in a language.
 * 6)  To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
 * 7)  To utter.
 * 8)  To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
 * 9)  To understand (as though it were a language).
 * 10)  To produce a sound; to sound.
 * 11) Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
 * 12)  To address; to accost; to speak to.
 * 13) * 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.
 * 1)  To be able to communicate in a language.
 * 2)  To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
 * 3)  To utter.
 * 4)  To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
 * 5)  To understand (as though it were a language).
 * 6)  To produce a sound; to sound.
 * 7) Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
 * 8)  To address; to accost; to speak to.
 * 9) * 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.
 * 1)  To understand (as though it were a language).
 * 2)  To produce a sound; to sound.
 * 3) Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
 * 4)  To address; to accost; to speak to.
 * 5) * 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.
 * 1)  To address; to accost; to speak to.
 * 2) * 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.
 * 1) * 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.
 * 1) * 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

 * 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.

Derived terms


phrasal verbs

idioms

Translations

 * Ido:

Noun

 * 1)  language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.
 * corporate speak; IT speak
 * 1)  Speech, conversation.

Translations

 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Galician: xerga
 * Italian:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: ,


 * Bulgarian: ,
 * Finnish:

Noun

 * 1)  a low class bar, a speakeasy.

Etymology
From.

Verb

 * 1) to speak