Word: speak Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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 *sprekan ("to speak" < "to crackle, prattle") and so came to be seen as a free variant thereof. Cognates Cognate with Scots speak, speik (“to speak”), Saterland Frisian spreke (“to speak”), West Frisian sprekke (“to speak”), Central Franconian sjprèche (“to speak”), Dutch and Low German spreken (“to speak”), German sprechen (“to speak”), Luxembourgish spriechen (“to speak”), and also with Albanian shpreh (“to express, manifest, show”) through Indo-European. Pronunciation: /spiːk/, /spik/ 1. To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud. Labels: intransitive Example: 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. Example: I was so surprised I couldn't speak. 2. To have a conversation. Labels: intransitive, reciprocal Example: It's been ages since we've spoken. 3. To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions. Labels: broadly Example: He spoke of it in his diary. Example: Speak to me only with your eyes. 4. To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech. Labels: intransitive Example: This evening I shall speak on the topic of correct English usage. 5. To be able to communicate in a language. Labels: stative, transitive Example: He speaks Mandarin fluently. 6. To be able to communicate in a language. Labels: broadly, stative, transitive Example: 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. 7. To utter. Labels: transitive Example: 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. Example: I was so surprised that I couldn't speak a word. 8. To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate. Labels: transitive Example: Their behaviour to each other speaks the most cordial confidence and happiness. Example: There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits. 9. To understand (as though it were a language). Labels: humorous, informal, sometimes, transitive Example: Sorry, I don't speak idiot. Example: So you can program in C. But do you speak C++? 10. To produce a sound; to sound. Labels: intransitive Example: Make all our trumpets speak. 11. Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language. Example: Miles tremblingly confessed that it had, but to no purpose; a parrot being able to speak better in three weeks than a brazen head. 12. To address; to accost; to speak to. Labels: archaic, transitive Example: [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair. Example: Each village senior paused to scan / And speak the lovely caravan.