speed

A2 Topic:Verbs of Movement

US /spiːd/ See IPA manual

Freq #1432

Meanings

1

noun
How fast something moves or happens.

The car was traveling at high speed.
2

noun
The quality of moving or doing something quickly.

The project advanced with surprising speed.
3

verb
To move very fast.

The train sped through the countryside.
4

verb
To drive faster than the legal limit.

He got a ticket for speeding on the highway.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · how fast something moves or... velocity rapidity

2 noun · the quality of moving or... swiftness

3 verb · to move very fast. hurry zip

Word family

Forms spedspeededspeeds

Derived forms airspeedbespeeddespeeddispeedfootspeedforespeedfour-speedgod-speedgodspeedgroundspeedhigh-speedhydrospeed

Related forms acceleration cheetahdecelerationfast glacier lightning quickly slow slowly snail speedy

Etymology

From Middle English sped (“prosperity, good luck, quickness, success”), from Old English spēd (“success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdi (“prosperity, success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōan, from Proto-Germanic *spōaną (“to prosper, succeed, be happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to prosper, turn out well”). Cognate with Scots spede, speid (“success, quickness, speed”), Dutch spoed (“haste; speed”), German Low German Spood (“haste; speed; eagerness; success”), German Sput (“progress, acceleration, haste”). Related also to Old English spōwan (“to be successful, succeed”), Albanian…

*speh₁- Proto-Indo-European sped Middle English spēd Old English *spōdi Proto-West Germanic *spōan Proto-West Germanic *spōaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

External links

# speed

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /spiːd/
**Frequency rank:** 1432

## Meanings
1. How fast something moves or happens.
2. The quality of moving or doing something quickly.
3. To move very fast.
4. To drive faster than the legal limit.

## Examples
- The car was traveling at high speed.
- The project advanced with surprising speed.
- The train sped through the countryside.
- He got a ticket for speeding on the highway.

## Synonyms
- velocity

## Derived Forms
- airspeed
- bespeed
- despeed
- dispeed
- footspeed
- forespeed
- four-speed
- god-speed
- godspeed
- groundspeed
- high-speed
- hydrospeed

## Related Forms
- acceleration
- cheetah
- deceleration
- fast
- glacier
- lightning
- quickly
- slow
- slowly
- snail
- speedy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *speh₁-
- Root: sped
- Root: spēd
- Root: *spōdi
- Root: *spōan
- Root: *spōaną

## Etymology
From Middle English sped (“prosperity, good luck, quickness, success”), from Old English spēd (“success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdi (“prosperity, success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōan, from Proto-Germanic *spōaną (“to prosper, succeed, be happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to prosper, turn out well”). Cognate with Scots spede, speid (“success, quickness, speed”), Dutch spoed (“haste; speed”), German Low German Spood (“haste; speed; eagerness; success”), German Sput (“progress, acceleration, haste”). Related also to Old English spōwan (“to be successful, succeed”), Albanian…

## AI Etymology
Speed is from Middle English sped (“prosperity, good luck, quickness, success”), from Old English spēd (“success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdi (“prosperity, success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōan, from Proto-Germanic *spōaną (“to prosper, succeed, be happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to prosper, turn out well”). Cognate with Scots spede, speid (“success, quickness, speed”), Dutch spoed (“haste; speed”), German Low German Spood (“haste; speed; eagerness; success”), German Sput (“progress, acceleration, haste”). Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *speh₁-, Middle English sped, Old English spēd, Proto-West Germanic *spōdi, Proto-West Germanic *spōan, Proto-Germanic *spōaną. In current use it includes senses such as How fast something moves or happens and The quality of moving or doing something quickly.

## Topics
- Verbs of Movement

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speed

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