Where does “speech” come from?

Speech comes from Middle English speche, Old English sprǣċ, Proto-Germanic sprēkijō, and Proto-Indo-European spereg-, ultimately from the root (s)per-.

speech (English): The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or...

Definitions

  1. The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or...

Ancestry of “speech”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishspechespeaking, speech; dialogue, discussion,...
2Old Englishspǣċ
3Proto-West Germanic*sprākuspeech, language

Words derived from “speech

Every word from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku
speech — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer