See also: spöke

English edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /spəʊk/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊk
  • Hyphenation: spoke

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-Germanic *spaikǭ.

Noun edit

spoke (plural spokes)

  1. A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
  2. (nautical) A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
  3. A rung of a ladder.
  4. A stick inserted into the wheel of a vehicle to keep the wheel from turning.
  5. One of the outlying points in a hub-and-spoke model of transportation.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Verb edit

spoke (third-person singular simple present spokes, present participle spoking, simple past and past participle spoked)

  1. (transitive) To furnish (a wheel) with spokes.

Further reading edit

Etymology 2 edit

Verb edit

spoke

  1. simple past of speak
  2. (archaic or nonstandard) past participle of speak
    • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 366, column 2:
      Cleo. Hye thee againe, / I haue ſpoke already, and it is provided.
    • 1741, The London Magazine, and Monthly Chronologer[1], volume 10, C. Ackers, page 435:
      Thoſe who have ſpoke in its Favour have allowed, that it is defective, with regard to the preſent Circumſtances of Europe, []
    • 2014 May 1, John Barker, Futures: A Novel[2], PM Press, page 131:
      I should have spoke to him there and then, seen he was in the mood to do something stupid.

Anagrams edit

Afrikaans edit

Noun edit

spoke

  1. plural of spook

Dutch edit

Verb edit

spoke

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of spoken

Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikǭ.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈspɔːk(ə)/
  • (early) IPA(key): /ˈspɑːk(ə)/
  • (Northern) IPA(key): /ˈspaːk/

Noun edit

spoke (plural spokes or spoken)

  1. a spoke (support radiating from the middle of a wheel)
  2. a sharp spike or projection on the edge of a wheel

Descendants edit

  • English: spoke
  • Scots: spaik
  • Yola: spagh

References edit