Meanings
- not comparableNot speaking; not knowing what to say; silent, especially due to surprise, amazement, etc.; wordless.
When he walked into his surprise birthday party, he was completely speechless.
1 more example
The attack was so unwarranted and delivered with such venom that his unpreparedness for it left him speechless.
1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 62 - archaicnot comparableSynonym of unspeakable.
O Mother Earth, O Sun that makest clean, What poison have I heard, what speechless sin !
1902, Gilbert Murray, Euripides, Longmans, Green, and co., page 321 more example
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.
1690, John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man, J.M., page 14Synonyms: unspeakable
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveSynonym of unspeakable.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivetemporarily incapable of speaking
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*sprēkalausaz
- Old Englishsprǣċlēas“speechless; without the power of speak”
- Middle Englishspecheles
- Englishspeechless
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans spraakloos, sprakeloos
- spraakloosnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- sprakeloosnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Bulgarian занемял, безмълвен
- занемял (zanemjal)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- безмълвен (bezmălven)not speaking; not knowing what to say
Catalan bocabadat, emmudit
- bocabadatnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- emmuditnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Chinese Mandarin 無言 /无言, 無語 /无语
- 無言 /无言 (wúyán)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- 無語 /无语 (wúyǔ)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- 沈默 (chénmò)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- 沉默 (chénmò)not speaking; not knowing what to say
Danish mundlam, målløs
- mundlamnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- målløsnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Dutch sprakeloos
- sprakeloosnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Esperanto senparola
- senparolanot speaking; not knowing what to say
Finnish sanaton
- sanatonnot speaking; not knowing what to say
French sans voix
- sans voixnot speaking; not knowing what to say
German sprachlos, fassungslos
- sprachlosnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- fassungslosnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- stummnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Greek άναυδος, άφωνος
- άναυδος (ánavdos)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- άφωνος (áfonos)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- ενεός (eneós)not speaking; not knowing what to say
Hindi निःशब्द
- निःशब्द (niḥśabd)not speaking; not knowing what to say
Hungarian szótlan, eláll(t) a szava
- szótlannot speaking; not knowing what to say
- eláll(t) a szavanot speaking; not knowing what to say
- meg se tud mukkanninot speaking; not knowing what to say
Icelandic orðlaus
- orðlausnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Indonesian kelu, kaku lidah
- kelunot speaking; not knowing what to say
- kaku lidahnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Italian senza parole, ammutolito
- senza parolenot speaking; not knowing what to say
- ammutolitonot speaking; not knowing what to say
Latin ēlinguis
- ēlinguisnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Norwegian Bokmål målløs, mållaus
- målløsnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- mållausnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Polish oniemiały, milczący
- oniemiałynot speaking; not knowing what to say
- milczącynot speaking; not knowing what to say
Portuguese sem palavras, atónito
- sem palavrasnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- atónitonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- atônitonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- perplexonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- estarrecidonot speaking; not knowing what to say
Russian онеме́лый, онеме́вший
- онеме́лый (onemélyj)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- онеме́вший (onemévšij)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- безмо́лвный (bezmólvnyj)not speaking; not knowing what to say
Spanish sin palabras, sin habla
- sin palabrasnot speaking; not knowing what to say
- sin hablanot speaking; not knowing what to say
- atónitonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- mudonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- corchadonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- enmudecidonot speaking; not knowing what to say
- sin saber qué decirnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Swedish mållös
- mållösnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Thai หมดคำพูด, พูดไม่ออก
- หมดคำพูด (mòt-kam-pûut)not speaking; not knowing what to say
- พูดไม่ออก (pûut-mâi-ɔ̀ɔk)not speaking; not knowing what to say
Vietnamese không biết nói gì
- không biết nói gìnot speaking; not knowing what to say
Cite this entry
speechless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/speechless
“speechless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/speechless. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “speechless,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/speechless.
Source: speechless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.