Spokesperson

How to spell spokesperson

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce spokesperson

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does spokesperson mean?

1. nounA person appointed to make statements or answer questions on behalf of an organisation, group, or individual.

Spokesperson in a sentence

• The company spokesperson confirmed that the factory would stay open.

• A government spokesperson declined to comment on the leaked report.

Where does spokesperson come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a modern, gender-neutral coinage built on the older word spokesman, which appeared in English in the mid 1500s. Spokesman combined an unusual form, spokes-, with man; the spokes- element grew out of spoke, which was once the regular past tense of the verb speak (as in 'he spoke'), with an -s added on the pattern of words like statesman and craftsman. The whole word therefore literally meant 'a man who has spoken', that is, one appointed to speak on behalf of others. As writers sought language that did not assume the speaker was male, spokesperson was formed in the early 1970s by swapping in person, alongside spokeswoman. The spelling trap is the buried -kes- cluster in the middle: it preserves that old past-tense spoke plus the linking s, so it is spelled spokes-, never spoke- or spokez-.

How the word is built

• spokes- (from spoke, the old past tense of speak)
• person (human being)