# speak

Pronunciation: say "SPEEK" US /spik/, UK /spiːk/

## Verb

1. To use the voice to say words; to talk or utter something aloud.
   - Simple: To say words out loud using your voice.
   - _Our toddler understands almost everything we say, but she hasn't begun to speak yet._
   - _He spoke softly so the children wouldn't wake._
2. To talk to someone or have a conversation with them.
   - Simple: To talk to someone.
   - _We need to speak before you make any decision._
   - _They hadn't spoken in years after the argument._
3. To be able to communicate in a particular language.
   - Simple: To be able to use a certain language.
   - _Many people in the region speak both French and Arabic._
   - _He learned to speak Mandarin while living abroad._
4. To deliver a message or speech to an audience.
   - Simple: To give a talk or speech to a group of people.
   - _He was invited to speak at the annual conference._
   - _The senator spoke for nearly an hour without notes._
5. 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.
   - Simple: To talk about a subject, or of a fact or event, to show something or be connected to it, used with "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._
6. To communicate or express something without spoken words, as through writing, art, actions, or silence.
   - Simple: To show a feeling or idea without saying it, for example through 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._
7. To put into words what another person or group thinks or wants, or to act as their representative, followed by for.
   - Simple: To say what another person or group thinks or wants, or to act for them, used with "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._
8. Of art, words, or an idea, to strike someone as personally meaningful or to stir their feelings, followed by to.
   - Simple: Of art, words, or an idea, to mean a lot to someone or touch their feelings, used with "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._
9. To know and use the terms or style of a field, group, or way of talking as if it were a language.
   - Simple: To understand and use the special words or style of a group or subject well.
   - _Engineers and lawyers rarely speak the same technical language._
   - _He could speak finance well enough to impress the investors._
10. Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce human words or phrases.
   - Simple: Of a bird, to copy human words with its voice.
   - _Not every parrot will speak, even with daily practice._
   - _The old cockatoo spoke a few words it had learned years earlier._
12. To produce a sound, as a musical instrument or a gun does.
   - Simple: To make a sound, as a gun or an instrument 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._

## Noun

11. Jargon or terminology used uniquely within a particular group or setting.
   - Simple: Special words used only by a certain group or in a certain place.
   - _Corporate speak fills the memo with phrases that mean very little._
   - _Newcomers struggle with the dense military speak of the briefing room._

## Noun

13. A low-class bar; an illicit drinking establishment, a speakeasy. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A cheap or illegal bar where people go to drink.
   - _During Prohibition, he ran a cramped speak behind a laundry._
   - _The jazz band played in a smoky speak until dawn._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An act of speech or conversation.
- (noun) Clipping of speaker point: in competitive debate, a score a judge gives an individual speaker for the quality of their speaking.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/speak (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).