“speaketh” is a form of
speak
UK /spiːk/ · US /spik/ verb, noun
Forms speaks speaking spoke spake speakest spokest speaketh spoken speake speke
- verb (intransitive) To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud. “I was so surprised I couldn't speak.”
- verb (intransitive, reciprocal) To have a conversation. “It's been ages since we've spoken.”
- verb (by extension) To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions. “He spoke of it in his diary.”
- verb (intransitive) To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech. “This evening I shall speak on the topic of correct English usage.”
- verb (transitive, stative) To be able to communicate in a language. “He speaks Mandarin fluently.”
- verb (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
- verb (transitive) To utter. “I was so surprised that I couldn't speak a word.”
- verb (transitive) To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
- noun (uncountable) Language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group. “corporate speak; IT speak”
- noun (countable) Speech, conversation.
- noun (dated) a low class bar, a speakeasy.
Synonyms
articulate talk verbalize babble blab chat chatter converse discuss jabber moot open one's mouth say yak yap yammer utter mouth verbalise address
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English speke, speken (“to speak”), from Old English specan (“to speak”). This is usually taken to be an irregular alteration of earlier sprecan, spreocan (“to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, from Proto-Germanic *sprekaną (“to speak, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *spreg- (“to make a sound, utter, speak”). Finding this proposed loss of r from the stable cluster spr unparalleled, Hill instead sets up a different root, Proto-West Germanic *spekan (“to negotiate”) from Proto-Indo-European *bʰégʾ-e- (“to distribute”) with *s-mobile, which collapsed in meaning with *sprekan ("to speak" < "to crackle, prattle") and so came to be seen as a free variant thereof.
Cognate with Scots speak, speik (“to speak”), Saterland Frisian spreke (“to speak”), West Frisian sprekke (“to speak”), Central Franconian sjprèche (“to speak”), Dutch and Low German spreken (“to speak”), German sprechen (“to speak”), Luxembourgish spriechen (“to speak”), and also with Albanian shpreh (“to express, manifest, show”) through Indo-European.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings; to express thoughts by words; as, the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak.
- verb To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse.
- verb To utter with the mouth; to pronounce; to utter articulately, as human beings.
- verb To utter in a word or words; to say; to tell; to declare orally; as, to speak the truth; to speak sense.
Etymology [OE. speken, AS. specan, sprecan; akin to OF.ries. spreka, D. spreken, OS. spreken, G. sprechen, OHG. sprehhan, and perhaps to Skr. sphurj to crackle, to thunder. Cf. Spark of fire, Speech.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “speak”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details