different between explain vs lisp

English

Etymology

From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explan? (“I flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + plan? (“I flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English ?ere??an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sple?n/, /?k?sple?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Verb

explain (third-person singular simple present explains, present participle explaining, simple past and past participle explained)

1. To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
2. To give a valid excuse for past behavior.
3. (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
4. (obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
   • April 14, 1684, John Evelyn, a letter sent to the Royal Society concerning the damage done to his gardens by the preceding winter

     The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf.

5. (intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible.

Synonyms

• (give a sufficiently detailed report): expound, elaborate, recce

Derived terms

• afore-explained
• explain away
• explainer
• mansplain
• please explain
• -splain

Related terms

• explanation
• explanatory

Translations

Further reading

• explain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• explain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• explain at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Alternative forms

• lipsey
• lithp (humorous)

Etymology

From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in ?wlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adj), 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”).

Pronunciation

• Standard: IPA^(key): /l?sp/
• Humorous:
  1. IPA^(key): /l??p/
  2. IPA^(key): /l?l?sp/
• Rhymes: -?sp

Noun

lisp (plural lisps)

1. The habit or an act of lisping.

Derived terms

• lispy

Translations

Verb

lisp (third-person singular simple present lisps, present participle lisping, simple past and past participle lisped)

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

2. To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, such as a child learning to talk.
3. (archaic) To speak hesitatingly and with a low voice, as if afraid.
   • 1597, Michael Drayton, England's Heroical Epistles

     Lest when my lisping, guilty tongue should halt.

4. (archaic) to express by the use of simple, childlike language.
   • 1848, Henry Walter (editor) William Tyndale (originally author), Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures

     to speak unto them after their own capacity, and to lisp the words unto them , according as the babes and children of that age might sound them againagain
5. (archaic) To speak with reserve or concealment; to utter timidly or confidentially.
   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     "You have done well, sir," said Delwood, calmly, as he placed double the amount of Mrs. Santon's bribe in the Signor's hand; "you have done well, sir; and mark my words,—gold can never relieve a guilty conscience! Go, sir, and see that you lisp not a syllable of this to any one."

Derived terms

• lisper

Translations

See also

• brogue
• drawl
• lallation
• lilt
• twang

Anagrams

• LIPs, LSPI, lips, pils, slip