Meanings
- uncountableA controlled form of natural language based on English and designed to facilitate communication between aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers.
It is always, apparently, the UK, US and Australian aircrews who are criticised for going outside the codified bounds of 'airspeak'.
1983, Seatrade, volume 13, page 1072 more examples
The advantage of a formalized language is rapid communication and the avoidance of ambiguity in applied settings tough, for instance, the use of "affirm" instead of "yes", and one request for "clearance to bypass your class" testifies to the inappropriateness of "Airspeak" as an acceptable mode of social communication!
1994, Gunilla Bradley, Human Factors in Organizational Design and Management-IVEven within a single language, terminology and phrasing need to be standardized, to avoid ambiguity, and great efforts have been made to develop such a system for English, widely called 'Airspeak'.
2012, David Crystal, English as a Global Language, page 109
Origin
Cite this entry
Airspeak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Airspeak
“Airspeak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Airspeak. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Airspeak,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Airspeak.
Source: Airspeak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.