talk

Meaning

Verb

1. To communicate, usually by means of speech.
2. (informal) To discuss; to talk about.
3. To speak (a certain language).
4. (informal) Used to emphasise the importance, size, complexity etc. of the thing mentioned.
5. (slang) To confess, especially implicating others.
6. To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.
7. To gossip; to create scandal.
8. (informal) To influence someone to express something, especially a particular stance or viewpoint or in a particular manner.

Noun

1. A conversation or discussion; usually serious, but informal.
2. A lecture.
3. Gossip; rumour.
4. A major topic of social discussion.
5. A customary conversation by parent(s) or guardian(s) with their (often teenaged) child about a reality of life; in particular:
6. A customary conversation by parent(s) or guardian(s) with their (often teenaged) child about a reality of life; in particular:
7. Empty boasting, promises or claims.
8. Meeting to discuss a particular matter.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tɔːk/

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.
Cognate with Scots talk (“to talk”), Low German taalken (“to talk”). Related also to Danish tale (“to talk, speak”), Swedish tala (“to talk, speak, say, chatter”), Icelandic tala (“to talk”), Norwegian tale (“speech”), Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon, account, consider, think, esteem, value; argue; tell, relate; impute, assign”). 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.

Sentences

Early versions of talk did not separate text from each user .