Meaning

noun the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience

noun (language) communication by word of mouth

noun something spoken

originFrom Middle English speche, from Old English spǣċ, sprǣċ (“speech, discourse, language”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *spereg-, *spreg- (“to make a sound”). Cognate with Dutch spraak (“speech”), German Sprache (“language, speech”). More at speak.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0