talk

Meanings

Verb

• To communicate, usually by means of speech.
• To discuss; to talk about.
• To speak (a certain language).
• To confess, especially implicating others.
• To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.
• To gossip; to create scandal.
• To influence someone to express something, especially a particular stance or viewpoint or in a particular manner.

Noun

• 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 teenaged) child about a reality of life; in particular:
• Empty boasting, promises or claims.
• Meeting to discuss a particular matter.

Related

Similar words

• conference, debate, discussion, meeting

Origin

• From Middle English talken, talkien, from Old English tealcian, from Proto-Germanic *talkōną, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *talōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del-, 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"), 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-, which is the source of loquacious.
• From Middle English talk, talke, from the verb (see above).