talk

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See also: Talk

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English talken, talkien, from Old English *tealcian (“to talk, chat”), 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”), Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon, account, consider, think, esteem, value; argue; tell, relate; impute, assign”). More at tale.

Alternative forms[edit]

Verb[edit]

talk (third-person singular simple present talks, present participle talking, simple past and past participle talked)

  1. (intransitive) To communicate, usually by means of speech.
    • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:
      I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all. […] It was a chance he was offering me, a wonderful, eighteen carat, solid gold chance.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess‎[1]:
      Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
    • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      Let’s go to my office and talk. ― I like to talk with you, Ms. Weaver.
      Audio (US)
      		(file)
    Let's sit down and talk.
    Although I don't speak Chinese I managed to talk with the villagers using signs and gestures.
  2. (transitive, informal) To discuss; to talk about.
    They sat down to talk business.
    That's enough about work, let's talk holidays!
  3. (transitive) To speak (a certain language).
    We talk French sometimes.
  4. (transitive, informal, chiefly used in progressive tenses) Used to emphasise the importance, size, complexity etc. of the thing mentioned.
    Are you interested in the job? They're talking big money.
    We're not talking rocket science here: it should be easy.
  5. (intransitive, slang) To confess, especially implicating others.
    Suppose he talks?
    She can be relied upon not to talk.
    They tried to make me talk.
  6. (intransitive) To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.
    I am not the one to talk.
    She is a fine one to talk.
    You should talk.
    Look who's talking.
  7. (intransitive) To gossip; to create scandal.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 13, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      “ […]  They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.
    People will talk.
    Aren't you afraid the neighbours will talk?
  8. (informal, chiefly used in progressive tenses) To influence someone to express something, especially a particular stance or viewpoint or in a particular manner.
    You're only sticking up for her because you like her; that's your penis talking.
    That's not like you at all, Jared. The drugs are talking. Snap out of it!
Conjugation[edit]
conjugation of talk
infinitive talk
present participle talking
past participle talked
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I talk we talk I am talking we are talking I have talked we have talked I have been talking we have been talking
you talk you talk you are talking you are talking you have talked you have talked you have been talking you have been talking
he talks they talk he is talking they are talking he has talked they have talked he has been talking they have been talking
past I talked we talked I was talking we were talking I had talked we had talked I had been talking we had been talking
you talked you talked you were talking you were talking you had talked you had talked you had been talking you had been talking
he talked they talked he was talking they were talking he had talked they had talked he had been talking they had been talking
future I will talk we will talk I will be talking we will be talking I will have talked we will have talked I will have been talking we will have been talking
you will talk you will talk you will be talking you will be talking you will have talked you will have talked you will have been talking you will have been talking
he will talk they will talk he will be talking they will be talking he will have talked they will have talked he will have been talking they will have been talking
conditional I would talk we would talk I would be talking we would be talking I would have talked we would have talked I would have been talking we would have been talking
you would talk you would talk you would be talking you would be talking you would have talked you would have talked you would have been talking you would have been talking
he would talk they would talk he would be talking they would be talking he would have talked they would have talked he would have been talking they would have been talking
imperative talk

See also: talkest, talketh

Synonyms[edit]
Coordinate terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from talk (verb)
Translations[edit]
(transitive) to discuss — see discuss

Etymology 2[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

talk (countable and uncountable, plural talks)

  1. A conversation or discussion; usually serious, but informal.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. […] Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.
    We need to have a talk about your homework.
  2. A lecture.
    There is a talk on Shakespeare tonight.
  3. (uncountable) Gossip; rumour.
    There's been talk lately about the two of them.
  4. (preceded by the; often qualified by a following of) A major topic of social discussion.
    She is the talk of the day.
    The musical is the talk of the town.
  6. (preceded by the) A customary conversation by parent(s) or guardian(s) with their (often teenaged) child about a reality of life; in particular:
    1. A customary conversation in which parent(s) explain sexual intercourse to their child.
      Have you had the talk with Jay yet?
    2. (US) 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.
      • 2012, Crystal McCrary, Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing Our World →ISBN:
        Later, I made sure to have the talk with my son about being a black boy, […]
      • 2016, Jim Wallis, America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge →ISBN:
        The Talk
        All the black parents I have ever spoken to have had “the talk” with their sons and daughters. “The talk” is a conversation about how to behave and not to behave with police.
      • 2016, Stuart Scott, Larry Platt, Every Day I Fight →ISBN, page 36:
        Now, I was a black man in the South, and my folks had had “the talk” with me. No, not the one about the birds and bees. This one is about the black man and the police.
  7. (uncountable, not preceded by an article) Empty boasting, promises or claims.
    The party leader's speech was all talk.
  8. Meeting to discuss a particular matter.
    The leaders of the G8 nations are currently in talks over nuclear weapons.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from talk (noun)
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Related terms[edit]

Pages starting with "talk".

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Via French talc or German Talk, from Persian طلق‎ (talq).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /talk/, [tˢalˀɡ̊]

Noun[edit]

talk c (singular definite talken, not used in plural form)

  1. talc (a soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Related terms[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

talk m (uncountable)

  1. talc (soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle Dutch talch, from Old Dutch *talg, from Proto-Germanic *talgaz. More at English tallow.

Noun[edit]

talk c (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of talg (“tallow”)

Anagrams[edit]

Polish[edit]

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Noun[edit]

talk m inan

  1. talc (a soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Declension[edit]

declension of talk
singular
nominative talk
genitive talku
dative talkowi
accusative talk
instrumental talkiem
locative talku
vocative talku

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

talk c

  1. talc (a soft, fine-grained mineral used in talcum powder)

Declension[edit]

Declension of talk 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative talk talken — —
Genitive talks talkens — —
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