Speechless

How to spell speechless

10 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce speechless

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does speechless mean?

1. adjectiveUnable to speak, especially because of strong emotion or shock.

Speechless in a sentence

• The surprise party left her completely speechless for a moment.

• The jury sat speechless as the verdict was read aloud.

Where does speechless come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, built entirely from Old English parts. The first element is 'speech', from the Old English 'sprǣc' or 'spǣc', meaning the act or faculty of speaking, which lost its earlier 'r' sound over the centuries. The suffix '-less' descends from the Old English 'leas', meaning 'free from' or 'devoid of', the same ending that gives us 'helpless' and 'hopeless'. Put together, the word literally means 'without speech', and it has been recorded in English since the Anglo-Saxon period, originally describing someone who simply could not talk before later taking on the modern sense of being struck silent by emotion. Because both halves are plain everyday words, the only real spelling care needed is the double 'e' in 'speech' and the single 's' before the 'l' of 'less'.

How the word is built

• speech (the act of speaking)
• -less (without)