specks

Specks are very small spots, particles, or marks on a surface or within a substance. The term is commonly used to describe tiny pieces that are barely noticeable to the unaided eye, or to refer to small impurities. Specks can be intrinsic, such as mineral inclusions in a mineral grain, or extrinsic, arising from contamination, wear, or handling.

In everyday speech, specks often denote small accumulations like specks of dust on furniture, specks of pepper on food, or specks in a photograph caused by dust on a lens or sensor. The notion spans scales from microscopic to visible; a single speck may range from tens of micrometres to fractions of a millimetre, depending on context.

In science and industry, specks matter as contaminants, or as deliberate particles in powders and aerosols. In imaging and optics, a related concept is speckle, a granular interference pattern produced by coherent light reflecting from rough surfaces. Contamination with specks can degrade product quality, measurement precision, or optical clarity, prompting cleaning, filtration, or environmental controls.

The plural specks is used across disciplines with a similar meaning. The root word speck is often linked to related terms such as speckled or speckle, which describe patterns of many small spots. The concept appears in geology, materials science, photography, and everyday language as a concise way to denote a small, discrete fragment.