speechless

English

Etymology

From Middle English specheles, from Old English sprǣċlēas (“speechless; without the power of speak”), from Proto-Germanic *sprēkalausaz, equivalent to speech +‎ -less. Cognate with West Frisian sprakeleas (“speechless”), Dutch sprakeloos (“speechless”), German Low German spraaklos (“speechless”), German sprachlos (“speechless”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈspiːt͡ʃ.lɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

speechless (not comparable)

1. Not speaking; not knowing what to say; silent, especially due to surprise, amazement, etc.

   When he walked into his surprise birthday party, he was completely speechless.

   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 62:

     The attack was so unwarranted and delivered with such venom that his unpreparedness for it left him speechless.

2. (archaic) Synonym of unspeakable.
   • 1690, John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man, J.M., page 14:

     Immortal Pleaſures round my ſwimming Eyes did dance,
     And ſpeechleſs Joys, in whoſe ſweet Tumult toſt,
     I thought my Breath, and my new Being loſt.

   • 1902, Gilbert Murray, Euripides, Longmans, Green, and co., page 32:

     O Mother Earth, O Sun that makest clean,
     What poison have I heard, what speechless sin !

Derived terms

• speechlessness

Translations

not speaking; not knowing what to say

• Afrikaans: spraakloos, sprakeloos
• Bulgarian: занемял (bg) (zanemjal), безмълвен (bg) (bezmǎlven)
• Catalan: bocabadat (ca), emmudit
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無言むごん／无言 (zh) (wúyán), 無む語かたり／无语 (zh) (wúyǔ), 沈默ちんもく (zh) (chénmò), 沉默 (zh) (chénmò)

• Danish: mundlam, målløs
• Dutch: sprakeloos (nl)
• Esperanto: senparola
• Finnish: sanaton (fi)
• French: sans voix (fr)
• German: sprachlos (de), fassungslos (de), stumm (de)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌱𐍃 (dumbs)
• Greek: άναυδος (el) m (ánavdos), άφωνος (el) m (áfonos), ενεός (el) m (eneós)
• Hungarian: szótlan (hu), eláll(t) a szava, meg se tud mukkanni (hu)
• Icelandic: orðlaus
• Indonesian: kelu (id), kaku lidah (id)
• Italian: senza parole, ammutolito (it)
• Latin: ēlinguis (la)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: målløs (no), mållaus

  Nynorsk: mållaus

• Polish: oniemiały m, milczący (pl) m
• Portuguese: sem palavras, atónito (pt) (Portugal), atônito (pt) (Brazil), perplexo (pt), estarrecido (pt)
• Russian: онеме́лый (ru) (onemélyj), онеме́вший (ru) (onemévšij), безмо́лвный (ru) (bezmólvnyj)
• Sanskrit: मूक (sa) (mūka)
• Spanish: sin palabras, sin habla, atónito (es) m, perplejo (es) m, mudo (es) m, corchado (es)
• Swedish: mållös (sv)
• Telugu: నోరులేని (nōrulēni)
• Thai: หมดคำพูด (mòt-kam-pûut), พูดไม่ออก (pûut-mâi-ɔ̀ɔk)