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speaker

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Speaker

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

From Middle English speker, spekere, an alteration (with change of suffix) of Old English speca, spreca (“speaker”), from Proto-Germanic *sprekô (“speaker”), equivalent to speak +‎ -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Spreeker (“speaker”), West Frisian sprekker (“speaker”), Dutch spreker (“speaker”), German Low German Spreker (“speaker”), German Sprecher (“speaker”).

Pronunciation

Noun

speaker (plural speakers)

  2. One who speaks.
    There were three different speakers, but I couldn't make out their accents.
    • 1989, R. Norman Whybray, Ecclesiastes, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 15:
      This title is derived from the first verse of the book (1.1), which is a heading or colophon informing the reader who this Qoheleth was: he was the author of the book, or at least the speaker of the words which are contained in it ...
    • 2011 October 28, Adam Thirlwell, “The Joyful Side of Translation”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 November 2020:
      As [David] Bellos points out, those born as English speakers are now a minority of English speakers: most speak it as a second language. English is the world’s biggest interlanguage.
    • 2021 April 25, John Malathronas, “Which languages are easiest – and most difficult – for native English speakers to learn?”, in CNN‎:
      Each written word when spoken is mutually incomprehensible between a Mandarin speaker in Beijing and a Cantonese speaker in Hong Kong. If you think that’s odd, consider our number system: the symbol “9” is universally recognized but it’s pronounced “nine” in English and “devet” in Slovenian.
  4. Loudspeaker.
    She lost her hearing after standing too close to the speaker at the festival.
  6. Speakerphone.
    you're on speaker
    I'm gonna put you on speaker now
  8. (politics) The chair or presiding officer of certain legislative bodies, such as the U.K. House of Commons or the U.S. House of Representatives.
  10. One who makes a speech to an audience.
    Synonym: speechmaker
    Near-synonyms: orator, presenter, announcer
    hired speaker;   motivational speaker
    The company hired a motivational speaker to boost morale.
  12. (US) A book containing passages of text for use in speeches.
  14. (especially in linguistics) The producer of a given utterance, whether speech or text.
    • 2002, Merlin Donald, A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 242:
      The speaker spelled out the words to be communicated, letter by letter, while the reader's hand read the speaker's message. In its original form the hand alphabet assumed that both speaker and reader could already speak and spell the words ...
    1. (poetry) The literary character uttering the lyrics of a poem or song, as opposed to the author writing the words of that character.
      Popular culture often incorrectly attributes quotes from the speakers of poems or songs to the authors thereof, as when "I took the one less traveled by" is attributed to Robert Frost rather than to the speaker in Frost's "The Road Not Taken".
  16. (music) A key on a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family (compare octave key on other instruments) which induces the instrument to overblow.
  18. (archaic) A wooden pole or spike used by hedgers to carry loads on their shoulders. Possibly Dorset dialect.
    Alternative form: spyeker

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

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Brunei Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from English speaker.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /spikə/
  • Hyphenation: spea‧ker

Noun

speaker

  1. (colloquial) loudspeaker

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English speaker.

Pronunciation

Noun

speaker m (plural speakers, feminine speakerine)

  1. announcer
  2. speaker (in parliament)

Further reading

Italian

Norwegian Bokmål

Romanian

Spanish

Swedish

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