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English
Alternative forms
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
Noun
speech (countable and uncountable, plural speeches)
- (uncountable) The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.
He had a bad speech impediment.
After the accident she lost her speech.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.
1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “XV AND XVIII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:I was at liberty to attend to Wilbert, who I could see desired speech with me. […] As far as Bobbie and I were concerned, silence reigned, this novel twist in the scenario having wiped speech from our lips, as the expression is, but Phyllis continued vocal. […] For perhaps a quarter of a minute after he had passed from the scene the aged relative stood struggling for utterance. At the end of this period she found speech. “Of all the damn silly fatheaded things!”
- (uncountable) The act of speaking, a certain style of it.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:speech
It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
Her speech was soft and lilting.
2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
- (countable) A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.
- Synonyms: address, allocution, monologue, oration, soliloquy
The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.
1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “I AND XII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:He's going to present the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. We've been caught short as usual, and somebody has got to make a speech on ideals and the great world outside to those blasted boys, so he fits in nicely. I believe he's a very fine speaker. His only trouble is that he's stymied unless he has his speech with him and can read it. Calls it referring to his notes. […] “So that's why he's been going about looking like a dead fish. I suppose Roberta broke the engagement?” “In a speech lasting five minutes without a pause for breath.”
- (countable) A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:language
1542, Andrew Boorde, The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge:The speche of Englande is a base speche to other noble speches, as Italion, Castylion, and Frenche; howbeit the speche of Englande of late dayes is amended.
- (uncountable) Language used orally, rather than in writing.
This word is mostly used in speech.
- (grammar) An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
- (uncountable) Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.
1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :The duke […] did of me demand / What was the speech among the Londoners / Concerning the French journey.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
vocal communication
- Afrikaans: spraak (af)
- Albanian: të folur (sq) n
- Arabic: حَدِيث m (ḥadīṯ), خُطْبَة f (ḵuṭba), كَلَام (ar) m (kalām), قَوْل m (qawl), نُطْق m (nuṭq)
- Archi: чӏат (čʼat)
- Armenian: խոսք (hy) (xoskʻ)
- Asturian: faladera f
- Azerbaijani: danışıq (az), nitq (az)
- Bashkir: телмәр (telmər)
- Basque: mintzamen
- Belarusian: мо́ва (be) f (móva), гаво́рка f (havórka), маўле́нне (be) n (maŭljénnje)
- Bengali: কথা (bn) (kotha), বাক (bak), জবান (bn) (joban)
- Bulgarian: го́вор (bg) m (góvor), реч (bg) f (reč)
- Catalan: parla (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 語言/语言 (zh) (yǔyán), 說話/说话 (zh) (shuōhuà), 演說/演说 (zh) (yǎnshuō)
- Choctaw: anumpa
- Czech: řeč (cs) f
- Danish: tale (da) c
- Dutch: spraak (nl) f
- Estonian: kõne
- Finnish: puhe (fi)
- French: parole (fr) f
- Galician: galra f, fala (gl) f, falar (gl) f
- Georgian: სიტყვა (ka) (siṭq̇va), მეტყველება (meṭq̇veleba)
- German: Sprache (de) f
- Greek: λόγος (el) m (lógos), ομιλία (el) f (omilía)
- Haitian Creole: lapawòl
- Hebrew: דיבור / דִּבּוּר (he) m (dibúr)
- Hindi: उक्ति (hi) f (ukti), बात (hi) f (bāt), बातचीत (hi) f (bātcīt), बोल (hi) m (bol), तक़रीर f (taqrīr)
- Hungarian: beszéd (hu)
- Icelandic: mál (is) n, tal (is) n, málhæfileiki m, málfar (is) n, mæli (is) n, framburður (is) m
- Irish: caint f, urlabhra f, labhairt
- Isnag: kaxi
- Italian: parola (it) f
- Japanese: 話 (ja) (はなし, hanashi), 演説 (ja) (えんぜつ, enzetsu), スピーチ (ja) (supīchi)
- Kazakh: сөз (kk) (söz), сөйлеу (kk) (söileu)
- Ket: ӄаʼ
- Korean: 말 (ko) (mal), 말하기 (malhagi), 연설(演說) (ko) (yeonseol)
- Kyrgyz: речь (rec), сүйлөө (ky) (süylöö)
- Latgalian: runa
- Latin: dictiō (la) f, locutio, eloquium, fatum n
- Latvian: runa f
- Lithuanian: šneka f, kalba (lt) f
- Luxembourgish: Sprooch (lb) f
- Macedonian: говор (mk) m (govor), реч f (reč)
- Malayalam: സംസാരം (ml) (saṁsāraṁ)
- Manchu: ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ (gisun)
- Mbyá Guaraní: ayvu
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: илтгэл (mn) (iltgel), үг (mn) (üg)
- Navajo: saad
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: tale (no) m, stemme (no) m
- Occitan: paraula (oc) f
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: рѣчь f (rěčĭ)
- Glagolitic: ⱃⱑⱍⱐ f (rěčĭ)
- Papiamentu: abla
- Persian: گفتار (fa) (goftâr), سخن (fa) (soxan), صحبت (fa) (sohbat), کلام (fa) (kalâm)
- Polish: mowa (pl) f
- Portuguese: fala (pt) f
- Romanian: vorbire (ro) f
- Russian: речь (ru) f (rečʹ), дар ре́чи (ru) m (dar réči), го́вор (ru) m (góvor), говоре́ние (ru) n (govorénije)
- Santali: ᱨᱳᱲ (roṛ)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: го̏во̄р m
- Roman: gȍvōr (sh) m
- Slovak: reč f
- Slovene: govor m inan
- Spanish: habla (es) f
- Swedish: tal (sv) n
- Tajik: гап (tg) (gap), сухан (tg) (suxan)
- Thai: คำพูด (th) (kam-pûut), ถ้อย (th) (tɔ̂i), พาท (th) (pâat), วจนะ (th) (wá-jà-ná), ภารดี (paa-rá-dii)
- Tocharian B: plāce
- Turkish: konuşma (tr), söz (tr)
- Ukrainian: мо́ва (uk) f (móva), го́вір m (hóvir), мо́влення n (móvlennja)
- Urdu: تَقْرِیر f (taqrīr), گُف٘تار f (guftār), سُخَن (ur) (suxān)
- Vietnamese: lời nói (vi), ngôn từ (vi)
- Welsh: lleferydd f
- Yagnobi: гап (gap)
- Yucatec Maya: tʼaan
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an oration, session of speaking
- Afrikaans: toespraak
- Albanian: fjalim (sq) m
- Arabic: خِطَاب m (ḵiṭāb), حَدِيث m (ḥadīṯ), كَلَام (ar) m (kalām), قَوْل m (qawl), نُطْق m (nuṭq)
- Armenian: ճառ (hy) (čaṙ), ելույթ (hy) (eluytʻ)
- Azerbaijani: nitq (az)
- Bashkir: телмәр (telmər)
- Belarusian: прамо́ва f (pramóva), гаво́рка f (havórka), спіч m (spič)
- Bengali: বক্তৃতা (bn) (boktrita), ভাষণ (bn) (bhaśon)
- Bulgarian: реч (bg) f (reč)
- Catalan: parla (ca) f, discurs (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 演說/演说 (zh) (yǎnshuō)
- Czech: řeč (cs) f, projev (cs) m
- Danish: tale (da) c
- Dutch: toespraak (nl) f, speech (nl) m, rede (nl) f
- Esperanto: parolado (eo)
- Estonian: kõne
- Finnish: puhe (fi)
- French: discours (fr) m
- Georgian: სიტყვა (ka) (siṭq̇va), სიტყვით გამოსვლა (siṭq̇vit gamosvla)
- German: Rede (de) f, Ansprache (de) f
- Greek: λόγος (el) m (lógos), ομιλία (el) f (omilía), αγόρευση (el) f (agórefsi)
- Ancient: λόγος m (lógos)
- Hebrew: הַרְצָאָה (he) f (hartsa'á)
- Hindi: भाषण (hi) m (bhāṣaṇ), तक़रीर f (taqrīr)
- Hungarian: beszéd (hu)
- Icelandic: ræða (is) f, ávarp (is) n, tala (is) f
- Indonesian: pidato (id)
- Irish: óráid f
- Italian: discorso (it) m
- Japanese: 演説 (ja) (えんぜつ, enzetsu)
- Kazakh: сөз (kk) (söz), сөйлеу (kk) (söileu)
- Khmer: កថា (km) (kaʼthaa), សេចក្តីថ្លែង (sackdəy thlaeng), សន្ទរកថា (sɑntĕəʼrĕəʼkaʼthaa), សុន្ទរកថា (km) (sontĕəʼrĕəʼ kaʼthaa)
- Korean: 연설(演說) (ko) (yeonseol)
- Kyrgyz: сөз (ky) (söz), речь (rec), сүйлөө (ky) (süylöö)
- Latin: locutio, eloquium, ōrātiō (la) f, fatum n
- Latvian: runa f
- Lithuanian: prakalba f, pranešimas (lt) m, kalba (lt) f
- Luxembourgish: Usprooch f, Ried f
- Macedonian: говор (mk) m (govor)
- Malay: ucapan (ms)
- Malayalam: പ്രസംഗം (ml) (prasaṅgaṁ)
- Maori: onetū, whaikōrero, whaikupu, kōrero
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: үг (mn) (üg), илтгэл (mn) (iltgel)
- Ngazidja Comorian: hotuba
- Norman: discours m
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: tale (no) m
- Occitan: discors (oc) m
- Persian: سخنرانی (fa) (soxanrâni), نطق (fa) (notq)
- Polish: mowa (pl) f, przemówienie (pl) n, wystąpienie (pl) n
- Portuguese: discurso (pt) m
- Romanian: discurs (ro) n, cuvântare (ro) f
- Russian: речь (ru) f (rečʹ), выступле́ние (ru) n (vystuplénije), спич (ru) m (spič)
- Sanskrit: वाद (sa) m (vāda)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: го̏во̄р m
- Roman: gȍvōr (sh) m
- Slovak: reč f
- Slovene: govor m inan
- Spanish: discurso (es) m
- Swedish: tal (sv) n
- Tajik: нутқ (nutq), сухан (tg) (suxan), гуфтор (guftor)
- Telugu: ఉపన్యాసం (te) (upanyāsaṁ)
- Thai: การพูด (th) (gaan-pûut)
- Turkish: konuşma (tr)
- Ukrainian: промо́ва f (promóva), мо́влення n (móvlennja), спіч m (spič)
- Urdu: تَقْرِیر f (taqrīr), نُطق (nutq)
- Uyghur: نۇتۇق (nutuq), سۆز (söz)
- Uzbek: nutq (uz), soʻz (uz)
- Vietnamese: chúc từ (vi)
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Translations to be checked
Verb
speech (third-person singular simple present speeches, present participle speeching, simple past and past participle speeched)
- (transitive, intransitive) To make a speech; to harangue.
1731, The Statesman: A New Court Ballad, page 7:So to Speeching he did go, / And like a Man of Senſe, / He certainly ſaid Ay or No,
1965 June, “Wales, Land of Bards”, in National Geographic, volume 127, number 6:"He wasn't one to make himself big," said Mr. Jones. "But he had something that drew the people when he was speeching... When he came down we all used to shout 'Lloyd George am byth!' You know, 'Lloyd George forever!' That was just how we felt."
Derived terms
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English speech.
Pronunciation
Noun
speech m (plural speechen or speeches, diminutive speechje n)
- speech, oration (oral monologic address of some length)
- redevoering (“toespraak”)
Derived terms
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Noun
speech m (plural speechs)
- an informal speech
- Synonym: allocution
Further reading
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English speech.
Noun
speech n (plural speech-uri)
- speech
Declension