bleat
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English bleten, from Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”), from Proto-West Germanic *blātijan, from Proto-Germanic *blētijaną (“to bleat”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to howl, cry, bleat”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to make a loud noise”).
Cognate with Scots blete, bleit, West Frisian bâlte, blaaien, blêtsje (“to bleat”), Dutch blaten (“to bleat”), Low German bleten (“to bleat”), German blaßen, blässen (“to bleat”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈbliːt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːt
Noun
[edit]bleat (plural bleats)
![]() | A sheep bleating
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- The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Verb
[edit]bleat (third-person singular simple present bleats, present participle bleating, simple past and past participle bleated)
- Of a sheep or goat, to make its characteristic cry; of a human, to mimic this sound.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 99:
- In the year 1633, the Bridget Nuns, near Xanthus, behaved like sheep, jumping about and bleating continuously.
- (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to complain.
- The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.
- (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to say things of little importance to the listener.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel.
Synonyms
[edit]- (make the characteristic cry of a sheep or goat): baa
- (complain): kvetch (US), moan, whinge (UK), whine
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Anagrams
[edit]Old English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Proto-West Germanic *blaut, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz, whence also Old High German blōz (“naked”), Old Norse blautr. More at blouse.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]blēat
Declension
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]West Frisian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Old Frisian blāt, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz.
Cognate with Dutch bloot, German bloß.
Adjective
[edit]bleat
Inflection
[edit]Inflection of bleat | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | bleat | |||
inflected | bleate | |||
comparative | bleater | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | bleat | bleater | it bleatst it bleatste | |
indefinite | c. sing. | bleate | bleatere | bleatste |
n. sing. | bleat | bleater | bleatste | |
plural | bleate | bleatere | bleatste | |
definite | bleate | bleatere | bleatste | |
partitive | bleats | bleaters | — |
Further reading
[edit]- “bleat (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰleh₁- (bleat)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːt
- Rhymes:English/iːt/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Entries with audio examples
- English verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English informal terms
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Animal sounds
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English adjectives
- West Frisian terms inherited from Old Frisian
- West Frisian terms derived from Old Frisian
- West Frisian terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- West Frisian terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- West Frisian lemmas
- West Frisian adjectives