speak

SaySPEEK/spik//spiːk/

Formsspeaks, speaking, spoke, spoken

Often confused with talk

15 meanings of speak

Practice

1
use your voiceverbintransitive
To use the voice to say words; to talk or utter something aloud.
Our toddler understands almost everything we say, but she hasn't begun to speak yet.
He spoke softly so the children wouldn't wake.
UsagePast spoke, past participle spoken: I have spoken (not ~~incorrect: I have spoke~~).
Similartalk
2
verbintransitivereciprocal
To talk to someone or have a conversation with them.
We need to speak before you make any decision.
They hadn't spoken in years after the argument.
UsageSpeak to or speak with someone, often about something: can we speak about the trip?
Similartalk
Note
In the perfect and the negative it often measures a relationship rather than one exchange. It's been ages since we've spoken is about lost contact, not a single missed talk.
3
know a languageverbtransitive
To be able to communicate in a particular language.
Many people in the region speak both French and Arabic.
He learned to speak Mandarin while living abroad.
UsageTakes the language as its object: speak French, speak three languages fluently. Usually in the simple present: she speaks Mandarin.
Note
The progressive he is speaking Mandarin moves back toward the act of talking. It means he is using the language right now, not that he knows it.
4
verbintransitive
To deliver a message or speech to an audience.
He was invited to speak at the annual conference.
The senator spoke for nearly an hour without notes.
UsageSpeak at an event, speak to an audience, speak about or on a topic.
Similartalk, lecture, present
5
verbintransitive
To discuss or comment on a subject, or, of a fact or event, to indicate something or have a bearing on it, followed by to.
I can't speak to the legal details, but I can tell you what I saw.
The long lines outside the bakery every morning speak to the quality of its bread.
UsageFor discussing a topic, address or comment on may be plainer. For evidence, use show: her awards show how hard she works.
Similaraddress, attest
Note
The evidential use, where long lines speak to a bakery's quality, is a cousin of the idiom speaks for itself.
6
hint atverbtransitive
To communicate or express something without spoken words, as through writing, art, actions, or silence.
No one said a word at dinner, but the heavy silence spoke clearly of their disappointment.
The worn tools hanging in his workshop speak of a lifetime spent building things by hand.
UsageUse speak of with a thing as subject: the tools speak of hard work. A direct object can sound literary: her eyes spoke sadness.
Similartell
Note
The subject here is usually a thing rather than a person: behavior, silence, indifference. Frances Burney, in a diary entry of 1785, describes behavior that "speaks the most cordial confidence," and Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) has an indifference "speaking a nature" free of hypocrisy.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Frances Burney used the quoted wording to describe behavior in her diary. gutenberg.org
The Burney diary entry dates from 1785. en.wiktionary.org
Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick, first published in 1851. en.wikipedia.org
Moby-Dick describes indifference as "speaking a nature" without hypocrisy. etc.usf.edu
7
verbintransitive
To put into words what another person or group thinks or wants, or to act as their representative, followed by for.
The union leader spoke for thousands of nurses during the contract talks.
Let me speak for the whole team when I say thank you for your support.
UsageSet phrases: speak for yourself (I disagree), speaking for myself (my own view), and spoken for (already taken).
Similarrepresent
8
verbintransitive
Of art, words, or an idea, to strike someone as personally meaningful or to stir their feelings, followed by to.
Of all the paintings in the museum, only one spoke to him, a small gray seascape.
Stories about leaving home speak to readers who have moved far from their families.
UsageTo soften criticism, you can say: it just doesn't speak to me.
Similarappeal, move

Less common meanings

9
verbtransitive
To know and use the terms or style of a field, group, or way of talking as if it were a language.
Engineers and lawyers rarely speak the same technical language.
He could speak finance well enough to impress the investors.
UsageOften the bare name of the field, with no article: speak finance, speak computer.
Note
A figurative stretch of the knowing-a-language meaning: a field is treated as a tongue one can be fluent in. Fluency carries over too, so people can speak it haltingly or well.
10
talk (birds)verbtransitive or intransitive
Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce human words or phrases.
Not every parrot will speak, even with daily practice.
The old cockatoo spoke a few words it had learned years earlier.
Similartalk
11
jargonnoununcountable
Jargon or terminology used uniquely within a particular group or setting.
Corporate speak fills the memo with phrases that mean very little.
Newcomers struggle with the dense military speak of the briefing room.
UsageFollows the name of the group or field: corporate speak, legal speak.
Similarjargon, lingo, parlance, argot, terminology
12
make soundverbintransitive
To produce a sound, as a musical instrument or a gun does.
At first light the cannons on the hill spoke again, and the windows in the village rattled.
As the organist pulled out the stops, the old pipes began to speak.
Similarsound, fire, boom, roar
Note
Sound without words, the sense closest to the root described under the spoken-voice meaning, which meant "to make a sound" as well as "to speak." In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macduff calls "Make all our trumpets speak," giving an instrument a voice.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The traditional etymology connects speak with a root glossed as both making a sound and speaking. en.wiktionary.org
William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
Macduff says “Make all our trumpets speak” in Macbeth, referring to sounding the trumpets. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
13
illegal barnoundatedcountable
A low-class bar; an illicit drinking establishment, a speakeasy.
During Prohibition, he ran a cramped speak behind a laundry.
The jazz band played in a smoky speak until dawn.
UsageToday speakeasy is clearer; the short form mainly adds period color.
Similarspeakeasy, dive
14
nounrare
An act of speech or conversation.
15
nouncolloquial
Clipping of speaker point: in competitive debate, a score a judge gives an individual speaker for the quality of their speaking.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of speak apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Old English specan ("to speak") became Middle English speken. Most accounts treat specan as an irregular change from the earlier sprecan, which goes back to *sprekaną, a Proto-Germanic verb meaning "to speak, make a sound," and possibly to Proto-Indo-European *spreg-. Because dropping the r in this way is unusual, some scholars argue instead for a separate root *spekan ("to negotiate") whose meaning later merged with that of sprekan. Dutch spreken and German sprechen ("to speak") are related.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

Old English specan meant 'to speak' and developed into Middle English speken. en.wiktionary.org
The usual account treats specan as an irregular alteration of earlier sprecan. en.wiktionary.org
Sprecan descends from Proto-Germanic *sprekaną, glossed 'to speak, make a sound'. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Indo-European *spreg- is a proposed, uncertain further origin. en.wiktionary.org
The unusual loss of r motivates an alternative account involving separate *spekan 'to negotiate' and *sprekan verbs that merged in meaning. epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de
Dutch spreken means 'to speak' and shares the Germanic ancestry of English speak. en.wiktionary.org
German sprechen means 'to speak' and is related to English speak and Dutch spreken. en.wiktionary.org