speck

Meanings

Noun

• A tiny spot, especially of dirt etc.
• A very small thing; a particle; a whit.
• A small etheostomoid fish, Etheostoma stigmaeum (species), common in the eastern United States.
• Fat; lard; fat meat.
• A juniper-flavoured ham originally from Tyrol.
• The blubber of whales or other marine mammals.
• The fat of the hippopotamus.

Verb

• To mark with specks; to speckle.

Origin

• From Middle English spekke, from Old English specca ("small spot, stain"). Cognate with Low German spaken.
• From earlier specke, spycke (probably reinforced by Dutch spek, German Speck), from Middle English spik, spyk, spike, spich, from Old English spic, from Proto-West Germanic *spik, from Proto-Germanic *spiką. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Späk, Dutch spek, German Speck, Icelandic spik.