Wiktionary

bleat

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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bleat (plural bleats)

A sheep bleating
  1. The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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bleat (third-person singular simple present bleats, present participle bleating, simple past and past participle bleated)

  1. 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.
  2. (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to complain.
    The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.
  3. (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.
    • 2016, James Lovegrove, Age of Heroes‎[1], Solaris, →ISBN:
      I can't have, for instance, Heracles come bleating to me at some future date, asking please can he have his bow back, and getting all stroppy when I refuse to tell him where it is.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Old English

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *blaut, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz, whence also Old High German blōz (“naked”), Old Norse blautr. More at blouse.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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blēat

  1. wretched, miserable

Declension

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Declension of blēat — Strong
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blēat blēat blēat
Accusative blēatne blēate blēat
Genitive blēates blēatre blēates
Dative blēatum blēatre blēatum
Instrumental blēate blēatre blēate
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blēate blēata, blēate blēat
Accusative blēate blēata, blēate blēat
Genitive blēatra blēatra blēatra
Dative blēatum blēatum blēatum
Instrumental blēatum blēatum blēatum
Declension of blēat — Weak
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blēata blēate blēate
Accusative blēatan blēatan blēate
Genitive blēatan blēatan blēatan
Dative blēatan blēatan blēatan
Instrumental blēatan blēatan blēatan
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blēatan blēatan blēatan
Accusative blēatan blēatan blēatan
Genitive blēatra, blēatena blēatra, blēatena blēatra, blēatena
Dative blēatum blēatum blēatum
Instrumental blēatum blēatum blēatum

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Middle English: *blete, *bleet

West Frisian

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Etymology

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From Old Frisian blāt, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz.

Cognate with Dutch bloot, German bloß.

Adjective

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bleat

  1. bare, naked
  2. poor

Inflection

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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

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  • “bleat (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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