Word.ws English Dictionary

talk of the devil

talk of the devil is the alternative form of speak of the devil.

Meaning of speak of the devil

Phrase

speak of the devil

  1. (humorous, idiomatic) An expression sometimes used when a person mentioned in the current conversation happens to arrive on the scene.
    • A: You know who would appreciate this? Tom. B: Speak of the devil! Look who just walked in!
    Synonyms:
    speaking of

Questions about talk of the devil

What is talk of the devil the alternative form of?
Talk of the devil is the alternative form of speak of the devil.

Words near talk of the devil in the dictionary

  1. talk jockeys
  2. talk jocks
  3. talk like a book
  4. talk like an apothecary
  5. talk nasty
  6. talk of the devil
  7. talk of the town
  8. talk one's way out of
  9. talk out
  10. talk out of
  11. talk out of one's arse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: talk of the devil (page history and authors); speak of the devil (page history and authors). 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: En-au-talk of the devil.ogg.

Cite this entry: “talk of the devil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/talk_of_the_devil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.