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Glite Dictionary
to talk of

to talk of

127 2.5
Mention something in conversation
  • phrasal verb
  • /tɔk ʌv/
translation icon : hablar de
  • During the meeting, they talked of the new project updates.
  • begin to talk of
  • talk of a movement
  • talk of God

You usually talk of a way in those houses.

Examples

  • I just wanted to talk to one of your players.

    Rebound (2005)

  • One could argue that we should talk of African tradition only as it is now.

    Academic text (2008)

  • We also talked about the issue of oil prices.

  • Yeah, talk to the chief of police.

    The Hessen Affair (2009)

  • We're talking about the safety of my kid.

    One Eight Seven (1997)

  • So let's talk about some of those first.

  • I walked up to him and we talked of this and that.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • To talk of food is to talk of mothers, at least for me.

    Academic text (2008)

  • In the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo.

  • Today, the entire Eastern Seaboard is talking of paranormal activity.

    Ghostbusters (1984)

Synonyms

to talk about
vsto talk of
∞ 1.3

Speak with someone about a subject

is similar but often implies a brief or topical mention
to speak
vsto talk of
∞ 1.0

To talk with someone to share thoughts or feelings

narrows that action to briefly mentioning or treating a subject
to mention
vsto talk of
∞ 1.0

To briefly refer to someone or something in words

leans more toward discussing the subject as a short topic
to discuss
vsto talk of
∞ 1.6

To talk with other people about something, often in detail

focuses instead on shorter or more topical mentions rather than depth
to bring up
vsto talk of
788 2.6

To mention a subject for discussion

often only mentions a subject briefly rather than formally introducing it
to speak of
vsto talk of
532 1.9

To talk about someone or something

focuses more on brief or topical references rather than extended detail
to mention it
vsto talk of
282 1.6

To say something in conversation or writing

tends to treat the point as a short topic of conversation
to chat about
vsto talk of
  • Informal
40 1.6

To talk in a friendly, casual way about a subject

is similar but can be used for both casual and more formal mentions
to make mention of
vsto talk of
  • Formal
6 3.6

To briefly say something about a person or thing

is similar but is more neutral and commonly used in speech
to talmbout
vsto talk of
  • Slang
9.9

To talk about something in informal speech

is the neutral expression used more widely in standard speech
to discussing
vsto talk of
1.8

Talking with someone to share ideas and opinions

tends to imply only a brief or topical mention rather than full exchange

How Discussed

to focus on
∞ 2.0
to debate
474 2.8
to discuss
∞ 1.6
to talk of
127 2.5
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

talk of infinitive
talked of past
talked of past participle
talking of present participle
talks of third person singular

Morphology

talk + of

The meaning 'to discuss or mention' is directly derivable from combining 'talk' (to speak) with the prepositional relation expressed by 'of' (roughly 'about'), following a standard verb + preposition composition equivalent to 'talk about'. This pattern is common and cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Talk of comes from the simple image of talk plus of: people speak and use of to point to a subject, like friends who 'talk of' the weather. So it means 'to discuss' or 'mention' something.