speck

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /spɛk/ Homophone: spec Rhymes: -ɛk === Etymology 1 === From Middle English spekke, from Old English specca (“small spot, stain”), from the same ultimate source as Proto-Germanic *sprakô (“spark”). Cognate with Low German spaken (“to spot with wet”). ==== Noun ==== speck (plural specks) A tiny spot or particle, especially of dirt. a. 1864, Walter Savage Landor, quoted in 1971, Ernest Dilworth, Walter Savage Landor, Twayne Publishers, page 88, Onward, and many bright specks bubble up along the blue Aegean; islands, every one of which, if the songs and stories of the pilots are true, is the monument of a greater man than I am. A very small amount; a particle; a whit. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum A small etheostomoid fish, Etheostoma stigmaeum, common in the eastern United States. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== speck (third-person singular simple present specks, present participle specking, simple past and past participle specked) (transitive) To mark with specks; to speckle. ==== References ==== === Etymology 2 === From earlier specke, spycke (probably reinforced by Dutch spek, German Speck), from Middle English spik, spyk, spike, spich, from Old English spic (“bacon; lard; fat”), from Proto-West Germanic *spik, from Proto-Germanic *spiką (“bacon”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Späk, Dutch spek, German Speck, Icelandic spik. ==== Noun ==== speck (uncountable) Fat; lard; fat meat. (uncountable) A juniper-flavoured ham originally from Tyrol. The blubber of whales or other marine mammals. The fat of the hippopotamus. ===== Translations ===== === Anagrams === pecks == Italian == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from German Speck, from Middle High German spec, from Old High German spek, from Proto-West Germanic *spik (“bacon”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈspɛk/ Rhymes: -ɛk Hyphenation: spèck === Noun === speck m (invariable) speck (type of ham) Hypernym: salume === Further reading === Speck Alto Adige on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia it speck in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana == Middle English == === Verb === speck (West Riding) alternative form of speken