speak

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To say words using your voice.

   Please speak more slowly so I can understand you.

2. 2
   verb

   To be able to use a particular language.

   She can speak three languages fluently.

3. 3
   verb

   To have a conversation with someone.

   It's been ages since we last spoke.

4. 4
   verb

   To give a formal talk or speech to a group of people.

   This evening I shall speak on the topic of healthy eating.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Speak descends from Old English sprecan. Its close relationship to speech, Old English sprēc, was more obvious before the r disappeared from both words.

From Middle English speke, speken (“to speak”), from Old English specan (“to speak”). This is usually taken to be an irregular alteration of earlier sprecan, spreocan (“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…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary