speck

See also Speck

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spek/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: spec
• Rhymes: -ɛk

Etymology 1

Old English spekke.

Noun

speck (plural specks)

1. (countable) A tiny spot, especially of dirt etc.

   tiny speck of soot

2. (uncountable) A juniper-flavoured ham originally from Tyrol.
3. A very small thing; a particle; a whit.

   He has not a speck of money.

4. A small etheostomoid fish (Ulocentra stigmaea) common in the eastern United States.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:modicum.

Translations

tiny spot

• Chinese: 斑點, 斑点
• Czech: smítko (cs) n
• Dutch: vlek de
• Finnish: täplä (fi), tahra (fi), tuhru (fi), suhru (fi)
• French: point (fr) m
• German: Fleck (de) m

• Italian: macchiolina (it) f
• Japanese: 斑点 (ja)
• Korean: 얼룩 (ko)
• Russian: пылинка f (pilinka)
• Spanish: mota (es) f

Verb

speck (third-person singular simple present specks, present participle specking, simple past and past participle specked)

1. (transitive) To mark with specks; to speckle.

   paper specked by impurities in the water used in its manufacture

   • Milton

     Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold.

Etymology 2

Noun

speck (uncountable)

1. The blubber of whales or other marine mammals.
2. The fat of the hippopotamus.

Anagrams

• pecks