Language desk
< January 7	<< Dec \| January \| Feb >>	January 9 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

January 8

Which languages have a commonly used word for "the person who is being spoken to"?

English has "addressee", but I do not consider this a word in common use. Nor does it completely encompass both "addressee" (usually for a written message) and "listener" (usually for a spoken message) together. 142.127.187.55 (talk) 14:17, 8 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 14:58, 8 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Collins states that "addressee" has been in use since the 1760s. While it's restricted to written communication in American English, it includes a wider meaning in British English of a person being spoken to. Cambridge agrees with the definitions. Bazza (talk) 15:19, 8 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

German: der Angesprochene, which is a noun of wikt:angesprochen. 91.54.32.105 (talk) 16:24, 8 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

That works in Dutch too: de aangesprokene. It isn't a very common word, but it's regularly formed as the nominalised past participle of German ansprechen or Dutch aanspreken, a transitive verb for "to begin speaking to somebody", so everybody should understand the word. PiusImpavidus (talk) 17:21, 8 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

[1]. --Lambiam 12:35, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

In the context of someone speaking, the term addressee implies to me that those spoken to are addressed in the second person. If one of a group of people asks, "So what are we gonna do now?", there is no "addressee" proper. --Lambiam 00:37, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"Audience" or "target audience" works some of the time, particularly when you're talking to more than one person. HiLo48 (talk) 01:36, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"Hearer" and "listener" may also work. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.245.235 (talk) 02:08, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

English also has interlocutor. --Jayron 32 11:46, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Ooh, how annoying! I just came across dialogue in a novel where a lawyer spoke of someone's "interlocutor", and realized the word was an answer to this question, but then I couldn't remember where the question had been asked. And now that I've found it again, it's already been answered. Why'd you do that to me, Jayron? --142.112.220.65 (talk) 03:09, 14 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I know someone who regularly uses the word auditor in this sense, which is correct but a bit annoying. Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:08, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Interlocutor (linguistics) offers three English synonyms ("conversation partner, hearer, or addressee") and links to articles in Arabic المحاور (اللغويات), French interlocuteur and Portuguese interlocutor.70.67.193.176 (talk) 15:39, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]