Speaking

How to spell speaking

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce speaking

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does speaking mean?

1. verbThe act of using the voice to express thoughts in words.
2. adjectiveInvolving or relating to talk, especially a part that involves dialogue.

Speaking in a sentence

• verb

  Speaking clearly during the presentation helped the new clients follow along.

• adjective

  After the argument they were no longer on speaking terms.

• verb

  She practised speaking slowly before her interview.

• adjective

  The actor finally landed a speaking role after years of background work.

Where does speaking come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'speak', which descends from the Old English specan, an earlier variant of sprecan, both meaning 'to utter words' or 'to talk'. The forms with that extra 'r', such as sprecan, were once common and survive in the German verb sprechen, a close Germanic relative; English gradually dropped the 'r' so that 'speak' won out. The base goes back to a Germanic root broadly meaning 'to make a noise' or 'to talk', and the '-ing' ending is the native English suffix that turns a verb into a participle or a verbal noun. Because the modern spelling rests on the long 'ea' standing for an 'ee' sound, the only real trap is remembering 'ea' rather than 'ee', a pattern shared with 'speak', 'leak', and 'peak'. The word has been in continuous English use since before the Norman Conquest, making it one of the language's oldest building blocks.

How the word is built

• speak (from Old English specan/sprecan: to talk, to utter)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)