Speck
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speck¹
- /spɛk/
Sounds like spec · Rhymes with -ɛk
Where it comes from
From Middle English spekke, from Old English specca (“small spot, stain”), from the same ultimate source as Proto-Germanic *sprakô (“spark”). Cognate with Low German spaken (“to spot with wet”).
noun specks
- A tiny spot or particle, especially of dirt. a tiny speck of soot
- A very small amount; a particle; a whit. He has not a speck of money.
- A small etheostomoid fish, Etheostoma stigmaeum, common in the eastern United States.
verb specks · specking · specked
- To mark with specks; to speckle. paper specked by impurities in the water used in its manufacture
speck²
- /spɛk/
Sounds like spec · Rhymes with -ɛk
Where it comes from
From earlier specke, spycke (probably reinforced by Dutch spek, German Speck), from Middle English spik, spyk, spike, spich, from Old English spic (“bacon; lard; fat”), from Proto-West Germanic *spik, from Proto-Germanic *spiką (“bacon”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Späk, Dutch spek, German Speck, Icelandic spik.
noun
- Fat; lard; fat meat.
- A juniper-flavoured ham originally from Tyrol.
- The blubber of whales or other marine mammals.
- The fat of the hippopotamus.
Speck³
Where it comes from
* As a German surname, from the noun Speck (“bacon”).
* As an English surname, variant of Speake, and perhaps a variant of Peck with an initial -s.
proper noun Specks
- A surname from German.
