talk

English Online Dictionary. What means talk‎? What does talk mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tôk IPA^(key): /tɔːk/
  • (Standard Southern British, MLE) IPA^(key): [toːk]
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /tɔk/
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: tŏk IPA^(key): /tɑk/, [tʰɑk], [tʰäk], [tʰak]
  • (African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): /tɔʊ̯k/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tɔːk/
• (General Australian, New Zealand, MLE) IPA^(key): /toːk/
• Homophones: torc, torq, torque (non-rhotic); tock (cot–caught merger)
• Rhymes: -ɔːk

Etymology 1

From Middle English talken, talkien, from Old English *tealcian (“to talk, chat”), from Proto-West Germanic *talkōn, from Proto-Germanic *talkōną (“to talk, chatter”), frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *talōną (“to count, recount, tell”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, count”), equivalent to tell + -k.

Cognate with Scots talk (“to talk”), Low German taalken (“to talk”). Related also to Danish tale (“to talk, speak”), Swedish tala (“to talk, speak, say, chatter”), Icelandic tala (“to talk”), Norwegian tale (“speech”), Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon, account, consider, think, esteem, value; argue; tell, relate; impute, assign”). More at tale. Despite the surface similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- (“to talk”) (due to Grimm's law), which is the source of loquacious.

Alternative forms

• taulke (obsolete)

Verb

talk (third-person singular simple present talks, present participle talking, simple past and past participle talked)

1. (intransitive) To communicate, usually by means of speech.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Let’s go to my office and talk. ― I like to talk with you, Ms. Weaver.
2. (transitive, informal) To discuss; to talk about.

3. (transitive) To speak (a certain language).

4. (transitive, informal, chiefly used in progressive tenses) Used to emphasise the importance, size, complexity etc. of the thing mentioned.

5. (intransitive, slang) To confess, especially implicating others.

6. (intransitive) To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.

7. (intransitive) To gossip; to create scandal.

8. (transitive) To manifest outwardly in speech, as opposed to reality or action.
9. (informal, chiefly used in progressive tenses) To influence someone to express something, especially a particular stance or viewpoint or in a particular manner.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:talk

Coordinate terms

• listen

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English talk, talke (“conversation; discourse”), from the verb (see above).

Noun

talk (countable and uncountable, plural talks)

1. A conversation or discussion; usually serious, but informal.
2. A lecture.

3. (uncountable) Gossip; rumour.

4. (preceded by the; often qualified by a following of) A major topic of social discussion.

6. (preceded by the) A customary conversation by parent(s) or guardian(s) with their (often teenage) child about a reality of life; in particular:
   1. A customary conversation in which parent(s) explain sexual intercourse to their child.

   2. (US) A customary conversation in which the parent(s) of a black child explain the racism and violence they may face, especially when interacting with police, and strategies to manage it.
7. (uncountable, not preceded by an article) Empty boasting, promises or claims.

8. (usually in the plural) Meeting to discuss a particular matter.

   Synonyms: conference, debate, discussion, meeting

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:talk

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

English terms starting with “talk”

Chinese

Etymology

From English talk.

Pronunciation

Noun

talk

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) talk; lecture; seminar

   聽talk／听talk [Cantonese]  ―  teng¹ tok¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to attend a talk

Verb

talk

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to talk (especially a lot)

   talk得 [Cantonese]  ―  tok¹ dak¹ [Jyutping]  ―  talkative

References

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French talc or German Talk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /talk/, [tˢalˀɡ̊]

Noun

talk c (singular definite talken, not used in plural form)

1. talc (a soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Related terms

• talkum

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

talk m (uncountable)

1. talc (soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Descendants

• → Indonesian: talk

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch talch, from Old Dutch *talg, from Proto-West Germanic *talg, from Proto-Germanic *talgaz. More at English tallow.

Noun

talk c (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of talg (“tallow”)

Descendants

• Negerhollands: talk

Anagrams

• kalt

Hawaiian Creole

Etymology

From English talk.

Verb

talk

1. to talk, speak

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch talk, from Middle French talc, from Arabic طَلْق (ṭalq), from Persian تلک (talk).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (standard) [ˈtalk], [ˈtalə̆k]
• Hyphenation: talk

Noun

talk (first-person possessive talkku, second-person possessive talkmu, third-person possessive talknya)

1. talc

Alternative forms

• talêk

Further reading

• “talk” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin talcum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtalk/
• Rhymes: -alk
• Syllabification: talk

Noun

talk m inan

1. (mineralogy) talc (soft mineral)
2. talc, talcum powder

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• talk in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• talk in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Etymology

From German Talk

Noun

talk c

1. talc (a soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Declension