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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English spede (“prosperity, good luck, quickness, success”), from Old English spēd (“success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdi (“prosperity, success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōan, from Proto-Germanic *spōaną (“to prosper, succeed, be happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to prosper, turn out well”). Cognate with Scots spede, speid (“success, quickness, speed”), Dutch spoed (“haste; speed”), German Low German Spood (“haste; speed; eagerness; success”), German Sput (“progress, acceleration, haste”). Related also to Old English spōwan (“to be successful, succeed”), Albanian shpejt (“to speed, to hurry”) and Russian спеши́ть (spešítʹ, “to hurry”), Latin spēs (“hope, expectation”), spērō (“hope”, verb), perhaps also to Ancient Greek σπεύδω (speúdō, “to urge on, hasten, press on”).
Noun
speed (countable and uncountable, plural speeds)
- The state of moving quickly or the capacity for rapid motion.
- Synonyms: celerity, rapidity, velocity; see also Thesaurus:speed
How does Usain Bolt run at that speed?
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away,
Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.
- (mathematics, physics) The rate of motion or action, specifically the magnitude of the velocity; the rate distance is traversed in a given time.
- Hyponyms: lightspeed, speed of light, speed of sound
Speed limits provide information to the drivers about the safe speed to travel in average conditions.
- (photography) The sensitivity to light of film, plates or sensor.
- (photography) The duration of exposure, the time during which a camera shutter is open (shutter speed).
- (photography) The largest size of the lens opening at which a lens can be used.
- (photography) The ratio of the focal length to the diameter of a photographic objective.
- (slang, uncountable) Amphetamine or any amphetamine-based drug (especially methamphetamine) used as a stimulant, especially illegally.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:methamphetamine
- (archaic) Luck, success, prosperity.
c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 76:St. Francis be my ſpeed, how oft to night / Haue my old feet ſtumbled at graues?
- (slang) Personal preference.
We could go to the shore next week, or somewhere else if that's not your speed.
- (finance, uncountable) A third-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the rate of change of gamma with respect to changes in the underlying asset price.
- Synonyms: DgammaDspot, gamma of the gamma
- Hypernym: Greeks
Derived terms
Translations
rapidity
- Albanian: shpejtësi (sq) f
- Amharic: ጥድፈት (ṭədfät)
- Arabic: سُرْعَة f (surʕa)
- Aragonese: rapideza f, velocidat f
- Armenian: արագություն (hy) (aragutʻyun)
- Asturian: rapidez f, velocidá f
- Azerbaijani: sürət
- Basque: abaila
- Belarusian: ско́расць (be) f (skórascʹ), ху́ткасць (be) f (xútkascʹ)
- Bengali: গতি (bn) (gotoi)
- Bulgarian: бързина́ (bg) f (bǎrziná)
- Burmese: အရှိန် (my) (a.hrin)
- Catalan: rapidesa (ca) f, velocitat (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 速度 (zh) (sùdù)
- Czech: rychlost (cs) f
- Danish: hastighed (da), hurtighed
- Dutch: snelheid (nl) f, vlugheid (nl) f
- Esperanto: rapideco
- Estonian: kiirus (et)
- Extremaduran: velociá f
- Finnish: nopeus (fi), vauhti (fi)
- French: vitesse (fr) f
- Galician: rapidez f, velocidade (gl) f
- Georgian: სიჩქარე (sičkare), სისწრაფე (sisc̣rape)
- German: Schnelligkeit (de) f
- Greek: ταχύτητα (el) f (tachýtita)
- Ancient: τάχος n (tákhos), ταχυτής f (takhutḗs)
- Haitian Creole: vitès
- Hebrew: מְהִירוּת (he) f (m'hirút)
- Hindi: गति (hi) f (gati)
- Hungarian: gyorsaság (hu)
- Icelandic: hraði (is) m
- Italian: velocità (it) f, celerità (it) f (rare)
- Japanese: 速度 (ja) (そくど, sokudo), 速さ (ja) (はやさ, hayasa)
- Kazakh: жылдамдық (kk) (jyldamdyq)
- Khmer: ល្បឿន (km) (lbɨən)
- Korean: 속도(速度) (ko) (sokdo)
- Kyrgyz: ылдамдык (ky) (ıldamdık)
- Lao: ຄວາມໄວ (lo) (khuām wai)
- Latin: celeritās f
- Latvian: ātrums m
- Lithuanian: greitis m
- Macedonian: брзина f (brzina)
- Malay: kelajuan (ms)
- Malayalam: വേഗത (ml) (vēgata), വേഗം (ml) (vēgaṁ)
- Marathi: गती (mr) f (gatī), वेग (mr) m (veg)
- Mongolian: хурд (mn) (xurd)
- Nepali: गति (ne) (gati)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: fart (no) m or f, hastighet (no) m or f
- Nynorsk: hastigheit f
- Old English: hrædnes f
- Persian: سرعت (fa) (sor'at)
- Plautdietsch: Spied m, Schwindichkjeit f
- Polish: szybkość (pl) f
- Portuguese: velocidade (pt) f, rapidez (pt) f
- Romanian: viteză (ro) f, rapiditate (ro) f, iuțeală (ro) f
- Russian: ско́рость (ru) f (skórostʹ)
- Sanskrit: जव (sa) m (java), जुवस् (sa) n (juvas)
- Scottish Gaelic: cabhag f, deann f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: брзина f
- Roman: brzina (sh) f
- Slovak: rýchlosť (sk) f
- Slovene: hitrost (sl) f
- Spanish: rapidez (es) f, velocidad (es) f
- Swahili: kasi (sw)
- Swedish: fart (sv) c, hastighet (sv) c
- Tagalog: bilis, tulin (tl)
- Tajik: суръат (tg) (surʾat)
- Telugu: వడి (te) (vaḍi)
- Thai: ความเร็ว (th) (kwaam-reo)
- Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: hız (tr), sürat (tr)
- Turkmen: tizlik
- Ukrainian: шви́дкість f (švýdkistʹ)
- Uzbek: tezlik (uz)
- Vietnamese: tốc độ (vi) (速度)
- Walloon: vitesse (wa) f, felesse (wa) f, raddisté (wa) f, abeyisté (wa) f, subtilité f
- White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
- Zazaki: pêt (diq), suret (diq)
- Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
- ǃXóõ: ʻǁna̰ã
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rate of motion
- Arabic: سُرْعَة f (surʕa)
- Armenian: արագություն (hy) (aragutʻyun)
- Basque: abiadura
- Belarusian: ско́расць (be) f (skórascʹ)
- Bulgarian: ско́рост (bg) f (skórost)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 速率 (zh) (sùlǜ)
- Czech: rychlost (cs) f
- Danish: hastighed (da), fart (da)
- Dutch: snelheid (nl) f, gezwindheid (nl) f, vaart (nl) f
- Esperanto: rapideco, rapido (eo)
- Estonian: kiirus (et)
- Finnish: vauhti (fi)
- French: vitesse (fr) f
- Georgian: სიჩქარე (sičkare), სისწრაფე (sisc̣rape)
- German: Schnelligkeit (de) f, Geschwindigkeit (de) f
- Greek: ταχύτητα (el) f (tachýtita)
- Haitian Creole: vitès
- Hebrew: מְהִירוּת (he) f (m'hirút)
- Hungarian: sebesség (hu)
- Icelandic: ferð (is) f, fart (informal)
- Indonesian: kelajuan (id)
- Italian: velocità (it) f, celerità (it) f (rare)
- Japanese: 速度 (ja) (そくど, sokudo), 速さ (ja) (はやさ, hayasa)
- Korean: 속도(速度) (ko) (sokdo), 빠르기 (ppareugi), 속력 (ko) (songnyeok)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: lez (ku) f
- Latin: celeritās
- Macedonian: брзина f (brzina)
- Malayalam: വേഗത (ml) (vēgata)
- Marathi: गती (mr) f (gatī)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: hastighet (no) m or f, fart (no) m or f, hurtighet (no) m or f
- Nynorsk: hastigheit f
- Old English: hrædnes f
- Persian: سرعت (fa) (sor'at)
- Plautdietsch: Spied m
- Polish: szybkość (pl) f, prędkość (pl) f
- Portuguese: velocidade (pt) f
- Romanian: viteză (ro) f
- Russian: ско́рость (ru) f (skórostʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: брзина f
- Roman: brzina (sh) f
- Slovene: hitrost (sl) f
- Spanish: velocidad (es) f
- Swedish: hastighet (sv) c, fart (sv) c
- Tagalog: bilis
- Telugu: వడి (te) (vaḍi) (scientific usage), వేగము (te) (vēgamu)
- Vietnamese: tốc độ (vi) (速度)
- Zazaki: lez (diq), rew (diq)
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photographic sensitivity to light
See also
Units for measuring speed: metres/meters per second, m/s, kilometres/kilometers per hour, km/h (metric); knot, kt, kn (nautical); feet per second, ft/s, ft/sec and fps, miles per hour, mph (imperial and U.S. customary); mach (aeronautical)
Interjection
speed
- (film) Called by the soundman when the recording equipment has reached running speed and is ready to go.
2000, Brian J. Hayes, A Boy Scout in Hollywood, page 30:“Speed,” Carlos, the soundman, said. […]
“Camera.”
“Rolling,” replied Bryce, the cameraman.
2012, Tom Mascaro, Into the Fray, page 52:[…] the director called, “Roll 'em,” the sound man said, “Speed,” and Norling stepped in and said, […]
Etymology 2
From Middle English speden, from Old English spēdan (“to speed, prosper, succeed, have success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdijan (“to succeed”). Cognate with Scots spede, speid (“to meet with success, assist, promote, accomplish, speed”), Dutch spoeden (“to hurry, rush”), Low German spoden, spöden (“to hasten, speed”), German sputen, spuden (“to speed”).
Verb
speed (third-person singular simple present speeds, present participle speeding, simple past and past participle sped or (mostly UK) speeded)
- (intransitive, archaic) To succeed; to prosper, be lucky.
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 1, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:And yf I maye fynde suche a knyghte that hath all these vertues / he may drawe oute this swerd oute of the shethe / for I haue ben at kyng Ryons / it was told me ther were passyng good knyghtes / and he and alle his knyghtes haue assayed it and none can spede- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :We have been praying for our husbands' healths,
Which speed, we hope, the better for our words.
Are they returned?
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:Aristotle must find out the motion of Euripus; Pliny must needs see Vesuvius; but how sped they? One loseth goods, another his life.
- 18thc., Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland
- At night returning, every labor sped, / He sits him down the monarch of a shed: / Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys, / His children’s looks, that brighten at the blaze;
- (transitive, archaic) To help someone, to give them fortune; to aid or favour.
God speed, until we meet again.
c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Fortune speed us! So we set forth to sea
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:with rising gales that sped their happy flight
- (intransitive) To go fast.
The Ferrari was speeding along the road.
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility.
- (intransitive) To exceed the speed limit.
Why do you speed when the road is so icy?
1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 25:It had these very funny, crazy plays in it, and then it had this one story about a traffic cop that falls in love with this very cute girl that’s always speeding.
- (transitive) To increase the rate at which something occurs.
1982, Carole Offir, Carole Wade, Human sexuality,, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, page 454:It is possible that the uterine contractions speed the sperm along.
2004, James M. Cypher, James L. Dietz, The process of economic development, Routledge, page 359:Such interventions can help to speed the process of reducing CBRs and help countries pass through the demographic transition threshold more quickly […].
- (intransitive, slang) To be under the influence of stimulant drugs, especially amphetamines.
1972, Lou Reed (lyrics and music), “Walk on the Wild Side”, in Transformer:Jackie is just speeding away / Thought she was James Dean for a day
2008, Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap, Allen and Unwin, page 46:If Hector had not been speeding, it was possible that his next thought would have hurt: he loves his uncle unconditionally, in a way he will never love me.
- (obsolete) To be expedient.
- (archaic) To hurry to destruction; to put an end to; to ruin.
c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :infected with the fashions, full of wingdalls, sped with spavins, rayed with yellows
1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: J Wright for Lawton Gilliver , →OCLC, page 2, lines 31–32:A dire dilemma! either vvay I'm ſped, / If Foes, they vvrite, if Friends, they read me dead.
- (archaic) To wish success or good fortune to, in any undertaking, especially in setting out upon a journey.
- To cause to make haste; to dispatch with celerity; to drive at full speed; hence, to hasten; to hurry.
1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. , London: Ar Hatfield, for I Iaggard and M Lownes, →OCLC:He sped him thence, home to his habitation.
- To hasten to a conclusion; to expedite.
1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. , London: D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe , →OCLC:Judicial acts […] are sped in open court at the instance of one or both of the parties.
Usage notes
- The Cambridge Guide to English Usage indicates that sped is for objects in motion (the race car sped) while speeded is used for activities or processes, but notes that the British English convention does not hold in American English.
- Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) indicates that speeded is incorrect, except in the phrasal verb, speed up. Most American usage of speeded conforms to this.
- Sped is about six times more common in American English (COCA) than speeded. Sped is twice as common in UK English (BNC).
Quotations
Derived terms
Translations
Translations to be checked
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English speed.
Attested since at least 1971.
Pronunciation
Noun
speed m (uncountable)
- (slang) amphetamines
References
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English speed.
Pronunciation
Noun
speed m (plural speeds)
- speed (amphetamine)