lisp

CEFRB2

/lɪsp/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To pronounce s sounds like th sounds, often because of a speech difficulty.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To pronounce the consonant ‘s’ imperfectly; to give ‘s’ and ‘z’ the sounds of ‘th’ (/θ/, /ð/). This is a speech impediment common among children.

Examples

  • He had to visit a speech therapist for his lisp.

  • Some people caricature gay men as limp-wristed and speaking with a lisp.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /lɪl͡sp/
  • /lɪθp/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, such as a child learning to talk.

  2. To speak hesitatingly and with a low voice, as if afraid.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. The act or a habit of lisping.

More examples

In context

  • He speaks with a lisp.

  • He used to have a terrible lisp before going to a speech therapist.

  • It's common for children to speak with a lisp.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The young child had a slight blank when pronouncing the letter 's'.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in āwlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *wlispaz (“lisping”), from Proto-Indo-European *wlis-, *wleys- (“rod”), from *wel- (“to turn, roll”). Cognate with Middle Low German wlispen (“to lisp”), Dutch lispen (“to lisp”), German lispeln (“to lisp”), Danish læspe (“to lisp”), Swedish läspa (“to lisp”).