spoke

See also: spöke

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spəʊk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊk
• Hyphenation: spoke

Etymology 1

From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikǭ. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”) and English spike.

Noun

spoke (plural spokes)

a bicycle wheel with spokes radiating out from the center

1. A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
   • 1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 4:

     The wheels were at first copies of a light hand-cart wheel, the wood spokes were brought together by tapering the spoke ends and wedging them together at the nave or hub and inserting the other ends in slots in the felloe or wood 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

• hub-and-spoke
• put a spoke in someone's wheel
• spoke-bone
• spoke-dog
• spoke key
• spoke-shave
• spoke wrench

Translations

part of a wheel

• Albanian: spicë (sq) f
• Arabic: سِلْك (ar) m (silk) شُعَاع m (šuʕāʕ)

  Moroccan Arabic: سلْك m (səlk) (metallic)

• Armenian: անվաճաղ (hy) (anvačaġ), ճաղ (hy) (čaġ)
• Azerbaijani: dəndənə, dəndə
• Belarusian: спі́ца f (spíca)
• Bulgarian: спи́ца f (spíca)
• Burmese: စပုတ်တိုင် (ca.puttuing), အကန့် (my) (a.kan.) (of a cartwheel)
• Catalan: radi (ca) m, raig (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 輻條 / 辐条 (zh) (fútiáo), 輻 / 辐 (zh) (fú)

• Czech: paprsek (cs) m, špice (cs) f (spoken)
• Danish: ege c
• Dutch: spaak (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: spoko (eo)
• Estonian: kodar
• Finnish: puola (fi) (rod), pinna (fi) (tension spoke)
• French: rayon (fr) m
• Galician: radio (gl) m
• German: Speiche (de) f
• Greek: ακτίνα (el) f (aktína)

  Ancient: κνήμη f (knḗmē)

• Hebrew: חִשּׁוּר (he) m (khishúr)
• Hungarian: küllő (hu)
• Icelandic: spæll m
• Ingrian: värttänä
• Italian: raggio (it), (colloquial) razzo (it) m
• Japanese: スポーク (ja) (supōku), 輻 (ja) (や, ya)
• Kazakh: кегей (kegei), шабақ (şabaq)
• Khmer: កាំ (km) (kam)
• Korean: 바퀴살 (ko) (bakwisal), 살 (ko) (sal)
• Kyrgyz: чабак (ky) (cabak)
• Lao: ດິ້ວກົງລົດ (diu kong lot)
• Latvian: spieķis (lv) m
• Luxembourgish: Speech f
• Macedonian: спица f (spica)
• Maori: tītoko
• Norman: rai m
• Norwegian: trinn

  Bokmål: eike m or f

  Nynorsk: eike f

• Ottoman Turkish: پرمق (parmak)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: پَرِه (pare), پَرِّه (parre)

• Plautdietsch: Spieekj f
• Polish: szprycha (pl) f
• Portuguese: raio (pt) m
• Romanian: spiță (ro) f
• Russian: спи́ца (ru) f (spíca)
• Scottish Gaelic: bas f, spòg f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спи̏ца f

  Roman: spȉca (sh) f

• Sicilian: raju m, raggiu m
• Slovak: spica (sk) f, špica f
• Slovene: napera f
• Spanish: rayo (es) m, radio (es) m, varilla (es) f, ray m (Puerto Rico)
• Swedish: eker (sv) c
• Tajik: парра (parra)
• Thai: ซี่ล้อ, ซี่ (th) (sîi)
• Tocharian B: puwe
• Turkish: tel (tr), parmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: спи́ця f (spýcja), шпи́ця f (špýcja)
• Uyghur: شادا (shada), گۈگۈسۈن (gügüsün)
• Uzbek: kegay (uz)
• Vietnamese: nan hoa (vi), căm (vi)
• Walloon: rai (wa) (wooden), reyon (wa) m (metallic)
• Welsh: adain (cy) f, ffon (cy) f, sbôc f

Verb

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

• spoke on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

spoke

1. simple past of speak
2. (archaic or nonstandard) past participle of speak
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), 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

• kepos, Pokes, pokes, posek

Afrikaans

Noun

spoke

1. plural of spook

Dutch

Verb

spoke

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

Middle English

Alternative forms

• spak, spake, spok, spook

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

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

References

• “spōk(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-12.