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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

talk

/tɔːk/
To communicate, usually by means of speech.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    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.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English talk, talke (“conversation; discourse”), from the verb (see above).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishtalken
      • inheritedOld English*tealcian
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*talkōn
          • partProto-West Germanic*talōn
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*talōną “to count”
          • partProto-West Germanic*-ukōn
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*-ukōną
    • inheritedMiddle Englishtalk

    Related: Low German taalken, Bavarian zoin, Cimbrian zaln, Dutch talen, German zahlen, Mòcheno zoln, da,nb tale, fo,is,sv tala, Norwegian Nynorsk tala, Latin dolus, Ancient Greek δόλος, Armenian տող

    Words built on it: show

    Meanings

    verb
    1. To communicate, usually by means of speech.
    2. To discuss; to talk about.
    3. To speak (a certain language).
    4. Used to emphasise the importance, size, complexity etc. of the thing mentioned.
    5. To confess, especially implicating others.
    6. To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.
    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 in which parent(s) explain sexual intercourse to their child.
    6. 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.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: talk