talk
Meanings
- To communicate, usually by means of speech.
- To discuss; to talk about.
- To speak (a certain language).
- Used to emphasise the importance, size, complexity etc. of the thing mentioned.
- To confess, especially implicating others.
- To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.
- To gossip; to create scandal.
- To manifest outwardly in speech, as opposed to reality or action.
- To influence someone to express something, especially a particular stance or viewpoint or in a particular manner.
- A conversation or discussion; usually serious, but informal.
- A lecture.
- Gossip; rumour.
- A major topic of social discussion.
- A customary conversation by parent(s) or guardian(s) with their (often teenage) child about a reality of life; in particular:
- A customary conversation in which parent(s) explain sexual intercourse to their child.
- A customary conversation in which the parent(s) of a black child explain the racism and violence they may face, especially when interacting with police, and strategies to manage it.
- Empty boasting, promises or claims.
- Meeting to discuss a particular matter.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English talken, talkien, from Old English *tealcian (“to talk, chat”), from Proto-West Germanic *talkōn, from Proto-Germanic *talkōną (“to talk, chatter”), frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *talōną (“to count, recount, tell”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, count”), equivalent to tell + -k. Cognates Cognate with Low German taalken (“to chatter, gossip, talk”). Related also to Bavarian zoin (“to pay”), Cimbrian zaln (“to pay”), Dutch talen (“to care, long; to speak; to say”), German zahlen (“to pay”), Mòcheno zoln (“to pay”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål tale (“to talk, speak”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish tala (“to speak, talk”), Norwegian Nynorsk tala (“to speak, talk”); also Latin dolus (“deceit, deception, fraud, guile, treachery, trickery; malice; artifice, device, stratagem”), Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “deceit, trick; wiles; bait”), Armenian տող (toġ, “line (in a text)”). More at tale. Despite the surface similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- (“to talk”) (due to Grimm's law), which is the source of loquacious.