speech

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

English

Alternative forms

• speach (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspiːt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -iːtʃ

Noun

speech (countable and uncountable, plural speeches)

1. (uncountable) The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.
2. (uncountable) The act of speaking, a certain style of it.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:speech
4. (countable) A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.

   Synonyms: address, allocution, monologue, oration, soliloquy
5. (countable) A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:language
6. (uncountable) Language used orally, rather than in writing.

7. (grammar) An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
8. (uncountable) Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• speak

Translations

Verb

speech (third-person singular simple present speeches, present participle speeching, simple past and past participle speeched)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a speech; to harangue.

Derived terms

• bespeech

Anagrams

• cheeps

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English speech.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spitʃ/

Noun

speech m (plural speechen or speeches, diminutive speechje n)

1. speech, oration (oral monologic address of some length)

   redevoering (“toespraak”)

Derived terms

• donderspeech
• speechen
• speechschrijver

Anagrams

• scheep

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spitʃ/

Noun

speech m (plural speechs)

1. an informal speech

   Synonym: allocution

Further reading

• “speech”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English speech.

Noun

speech n (plural speech-uri)

1. speech

Declension