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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

speech.

The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/spiːt͡ʃ//spiːt͡ʃ/Early, Modern/spɛːt͡ʃ/Early, Modern
  1. The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.

    uncountable
    He had a bad speech impediment.
    After the accident she lost her speech.
  2. The act of speaking, a certain style of it.

    uncountable
    It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
    Her speech was soft and lilting.
  3. A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.

    countable
    The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.
  4. A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.

    countable
  5. Language used orally, rather than in writing.

    uncountable
    This word is mostly used in speech.
  6. An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech

    countable · uncountable
  7. Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *sprākī Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *-u Proto-West Germanic *sprāku Old English sprǣċ Old English spǣċ Middle English speche English speech 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.

verb/spiːt͡ʃ//spiːt͡ʃ/Early, Modern/spɛːt͡ʃ/Early, Modern
  1. To make (a speech); to harangue.

    intransitive · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *sprākī Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *-u Proto-West Germanic *sprāku Old English sprǣċ Old English spǣċ Middle English speche English speech 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.