English
speechful
Speechful comes from Middle English specheful.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500specheful
- Englishearliest quotation 1914speechful
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500specheful
- Englishearliest quotation 1914speechful
Earliest quotation: 1914, Thomas Hardy: “O they were speechful faces, gazing insistent […]”
Formed from speech + -ful
Proto-Indo-European *spereg- ‘to make a sound’
…
Proto-West Germanic *sprāku ‘speech, language’
Old English sprǣċ ‘speech, language’
Old English spǣċ ‘speech’
Middle English speche ‘speaking, speech’
English speech
Every English word from Middle English specheful
Today it means
adj voluble; loquacious
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English specheful / speechful