speaker

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)
  2. noun electro-acoustic transducer that converts electrical signals into sounds loud enough to be heard at a distance
  3. noun the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly

Etymology

From Middle English speker, spekere, an alteration (with change of suffix) of Old English speca, spreca (“speaker”), from Proto-Germanic *sprekô (“speaker”), equivalent to speak + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Spreeker (“speaker”), West Frisian sprekker (“speaker”), Dutch spreker (“speaker”), German Low German Spreker (“speaker”), German Sprecher (“speaker”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

talker, utterer, verbalizer, verbaliser

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