Other forms: bespeaks, bespeaking
To bespeak is to be a sign of something. It bespeaks care, bespeaks a lack of thought, bespeaks great skill.
It is formal and literary and it always takes an abstract object — a detail bespeaks care, not a person. The older sense is to order in advance, which is where bespoke comes from: a bespoke suit is one ordered rather than bought ready-made. Note that the be- makes a verb, as in beget.
1verbbespeakTo be a sign of something.
“The neat handwriting and careful spelling bespeak a patient, thoughtful writer.”
bespeak is an indicating.
Old English besprecan means to speak about. Bespoke, meaning made to order, comes from the sense of speaking for something in advance.
Proto-Germanic
*bisprekaną — to speak about, discuss, blame
Proto-West Germanic
*bisprekan — to discuss, blame
Old English
*bespecan
Middle English
bespeken
English, today
bespeak
Built from
From Middle English bespeken, bispeken, from Old English bespecan, besprecan (“to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain”), from Proto-West Germanic bisprekan (“to discuss, blame”), from Proto-Germanic bisprekaną (“to speak about, discuss, blame”), equivalent to be + speak. Cognate with Scots bespeke (“to beseech, speak or negotiate with”), stq bispreke (“to discuss”), West Frisian besprekke (“to discuss”), Dutch bespreken (“to discuss, review, debate”), German besprechen (“to discuss, review, talk about”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA