speech
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
speech
- /spiːt͡ʃ/
- /spiːt͡ʃ/ Early Modern
- /spɛːt͡ʃ/ Early Modern
Rhymes with -iːtʃ
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *sprākī
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Germanic *-ō
Proto-West Germanic *-u
Proto-West Germanic *sprāku
Old English sprǣċ
Old English spǣċ
Middle English speche
English speech
From Middle English speche, from Old English spǣċ, sprǣċ (“speech, discourse, language”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *spereg-, *spreg- (“to make a sound”). Cognate with Dutch spraak (“speech”), German Sprache (“language, speech”). More at speak.
noun speeches · speach
- The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate. He had a bad speech impediment.
- The act of speaking, a certain style of it. It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
- A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person. The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.
- A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel.
- Language used orally, rather than in writing. This word is mostly used in speech.
- An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
- Public talk, news, gossip, rumour. The duke[…]did of me demand / What was the speech among the Londoners / Concerning the French journey.
verb speeches · speeching · speeched · speach
- To make (a speech); to harangue. I'll speech against peace while Dismal's my name, / And be a true whig, while I'm Not-in-game.
