speak

Plural: speaks

Verb

Verb Forms: spoke, spake, spoken, speaking, speaks

To utter words; to talk or converse; to express oneself.
express in speech
exchange thoughts; talk with
use language
- "the prisoner won't speak"
- "they speak a strange dialect"
give a speech to
make a characteristic or natural sound
To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
To have a conversation.
To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.
To be able to communicate in a language.
To be able to communicate in a language.
To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
To utter.
To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
To understand (as though it were a language).
To produce a sound; to sound.
Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
To address; to accost; to speak to.

Noun

Language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.
Speech, conversation.
Clipping of speaker point.
a low class bar, a speakeasy.

Examples

Actions speak louder than words.
corporate speak; IT speak
He speaks Mandarin fluently.
He spoke of it in his diary.
I was so surprised I couldn't speak.
I was so surprised that I couldn't speak a word.
It's been ages since we've spoken.
Let your high-scoring Words With Friends plays SPEAK for themselves, not your trash talk.
So you can program in C. But do you speak C++?
Sorry, I don't speak idiot.
Speak to me only with your eyes.
This evening I shall speak on the topic of correct English usage.
We will deduct speaks for hesitation.
You're speaking too fast.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

address, mouth, talk, utter, verbalise, verbalize, articulate, babble, blab, chat, chatter, converse, discuss, jabber, open one's mouth, quethe, say, speak, yak, yammer, yap

Antonyms

be silent

Scrabble Score: 11

speak: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
speak: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
speak: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

speak: valid Words With Friends Word