English Explanatory Dictionary

spoke

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
  2. A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
  3. A rung of a ladder.
  4. A stick inserted into the wheel of a vehicle to keep the wheel from turning.
  5. One of the outlying points in a hub-and-spoke model of transportation.
verb
  1. To furnish (a wheel) with spokes.
verb
  1. simple past of speak
  2. past participle of speak

Pronunciation

/spəʊk/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-spoke.wav /spoʊk/ en-us-spoke.ogg

Word forms

spoke spokes spoking spoked

Etymology

From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikō. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”), Dutch spaak and English spike.

Derived words

hub-and-spoke key spoke leading spoke multispoke put a spoke in someone's wheel respoke spoke-bone spoke-dog spoke key spokeless spoke nipple spokescouncil spokeshave spoke-shave spoke target spokewise spoke wrench spoky trailing spoke underspoke
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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