spoke
/spəʊk//spoʊk/
spoke noun: a support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim. Also the simple past of speak.
Noun
spoke (plural spokes)
- A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
- 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.1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 4
- A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
- A rung of a ladder.
- A stick inserted into the wheel of a vehicle to keep the wheel from turning.
- One of the outlying points in a hub-and-spoke model of transportation.
Verb
spoke (third-person singular simple present spokes, present participle spoking, simple past and past participle spoked)
- To furnish (a wheel) with spokes.
Also used as
spoke is also the simple past of speak.
spoke is also the past participle of speak.
spoke meaning in Gujarati, Arabic, Thai and Vietnamese
spoke in Gujarati
- બોલ્યા
spoke in Arabic
- part of a wheel
- سِلْك m شُعَاع šuʕāʕ
spoke in Thai
- part of a wheel
- ซี่ล้อ, ซี่ sîi
spoke in Vietnamese
- part of a wheel
- nan hoa, căm
More languagesFewer languages
- spoke in Myanmar
- စပုတ်တိုင် ca.puttuing, အကန့် a.kan.
Examples of spoke in a sentence
- She spoke with a strong accent that betrayed her southern roots.
- I was surprised to learn that he was an immigrant, as he spoke without any accent.
- I only spoke to my lawyer and yourself about the issue.
Forms of spoke
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | spokes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | spokes |
| present participle | spoking |
| past participle | spoked |
| past | spoked |
Origin of spoke
From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikō. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”), Dutch spaak and English spike.
From Middle English speke, spake, spoke, spak, spek, speken, spoken, from Old English spæc, specen.
Words formed from spoke
Phrases with spoke
- spoke of
- spoke to
- spoke up
- spoke for
- spoke out
- spoke keys
- spoke highly
- spoke ill of
- spoke down to
- spoke nipples
- spoke volumes
- spoke well of
18 more phrasesFewer phrases
- spoke in terms
- spoke too soon
- spoke wrenches
- as she is spoke
- spoke in circles
- spoke in dollars
- spoke in tongues
- spoke one's mind
- spoke for oneself
- spoke like a book
- spoke out of turn
- spoke as one found
- spoke truth to power
- spoke one's conscience
- spoke someone's language
- spoke with a forked tongue
- puts a spoke in someone's wheel
- putting a spoke in someone's wheel
Words that rhyme with spoke
Questions about spoke
- What does spoke mean?
- Spoke means a support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
- What is spoke in Gujarati?
- Spoke in Gujarati is બોલ્યા. See Spoke meaning in Gujarati.
- What part of speech is spoke?
- Spoke can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce spoke?
- Spoke is pronounced /spəʊk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of spoke?
- The plural of spoke is spokes.
Words near spoke in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spoke (page history and authors); spoke (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-spoke.wav, en-us-spoke.ogg.
Cite this entry: “spoke.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spoke. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.