English Explanatory Dictionary

speckle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A small spot or speck on the skin, plumage or foliage.
  2. The random distribution of light when it is scattered by a rough surface.
  3. Kind; sort.
  4. A cluster of interchromatin granules in a nucleus.
verb
  1. To mark with speckles.

Pronunciation

/ˈspɛkəl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-speckle.wav

Word forms

speckle speckles speckling speckled

Etymology

The noun is from Middle Dutch spekkel; the verb was later coined from the noun, in the late 16th century.

Synonyms

splicing speckle

Derived words

bespeckle biospeckle despeckle microspeckle multispeckle paraspeckle perispeckle specklebreast speckled speckle-fronted weaver specklegram speckle imaging speckly
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary