talk
n. C / Un. a speech that someone gives to a group about a specific topic. It can also mean a serious or important conversation between people.
n. a formal address or lecture on a particular subject. Can also refer to a conversation, often one that is serious or decisive.
She gives a talk on modern art.
My parents want to have a talk with me about my plans for college.
The historian's talk wove together disparate threads of economic and social change, offering a new perspective on the causes of the revolution.
From Middle English talken, talkien, from Old English tealcian (“to talk, chat”), from Proto-West Germanic talkōn, from Proto-Germanic talkōną (“to talk, chatter”), frequentative form of Proto-Germanic talōną (“to count, recount, tell”), from Proto-Indo-European dol-, del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, count”), equivalent to tell + -k. Cognate with Scots talk (“to talk”), Low German taalken (“to talk”). Related also to Danish tale (“to talk, speak”), Swedish tala (“to talk, speak, say, chatter”), Icelandic tala (“to talk”), Norwegian tale (“speech”), Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon, account, consider, think, esteem, value; argue; tell, relate; impute, assign”). More at tale. Despite the surface similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- (“to talk”) (due to Grimm's law), which is the source of loquacious.
From Middle English talk, talke (“conversation; discourse”), from the verb (see above).
Countable when referring to a specific speech or conversation ('a talk'). Uncountable when referring to speech in general, especially when it is empty or insincere ('all talk').
make a talkgive a talkThe common verb collocations for a formal speech are 'give a talk' or 'deliver a talk', not 'make a talk'.