fall asleep

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

fall asleep (third-person singular simple present falls asleep, present participle falling asleep, simple past fell asleep, past participle fallen asleep)

1. To pass from a state of wakefulness into sleep.
   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter II (Burglary), page 378, column 1:

     She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realizing that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

2. (idiomatic, figurative) To be affected by paresthesia; to go numb.

   My left leg has fallen asleep!

3. (poetic, euphemistic) To die (often seen on gravestones).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 7:60:

     And he kneeled downe, and cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sinne to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleepe. And Saul was consenting vnto his death.

Synonyms

• (pass from a state of wakefulness into sleep): drift off, drop off, go to sleep, nod off; See Thesaurus:fall asleep
• (poetic, euphemistic: to die): pass, pass away, pass over

Antonyms

• (pass from a state of wakefulness into sleep): awake, awaken, wake, wake up

Derived terms

• fall asleep in the Lord

Translations

to pass into sleep

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• American Sign Language: 1@Sfhead-PalmDown A@Palm-PalmDown-A@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp
• Arabic: غَلَّبَ النُعَاس (ḡallaba n-nuʕās), نَامَ (nāma), اِسْتَغْرَقَ فِي النَّوْم (istaḡraqa fī n-nawm), غَفَا (ḡafā)

  Hijazi Arabic: نام (nām), غفي (ḡifi)

• Armenian: քնել (hy) (kʻnel)
• Asturian: dormir (ast), adormecer, apigazar
• Azerbaijani: yuxulamaq, uyumaq
• Basque: lo gelditu
• Belarusian: засыпа́ць impf (zasypácʹ), засну́ць pf (zasnúcʹ)
• Bulgarian: заспи́вам (bg) impf (zaspívam), заспя́ pf (zaspjá)
• Catalan: adormir-se (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎦᏢᏍᎦ (gatlvsga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 睡著／睡着 (shuìzháo)

• Czech: usínat impf, usnout (cs) pf
• Danish: falde i søvn, sove ind
• Dutch: in slaap vallen, inslapen (nl)
• Esperanto: ekdormi
• Estonian: magama jääma
• Faroese: sovna
• Finnish: nukahtaa (fi)
• French: s’endormir (fr)
• Galician: adormecer (gl)
• Georgian: დაიძინებს (daiʒinebs), ჩაიძინებს (čaiʒinebs)
• German: einschlafen (de), einpennen (de)
• Greek: αποκοιμιέμαι (el) (apokoimiémai)

  Ancient: ἀποκοιμῶμαι (apokoimômai), δαρθάνω (darthánō), καθυπνόω (kathupnóō)

• Hebrew: נרדם (nirdám)
• Hindi: सो जाना (so jānā), नींद में पड़ना (nīnd mẽ paṛnā), नींद आना (nīnd ānā)
• Hungarian: elalszik (hu), álomba merül
• Icelandic: sofna (is), falla í svefn
• Ido: dormeskar (io)
• Indonesian: ketiduran (id)
• Ingrian: nukahtaa, nukahtaissa
• Irish: téigh a chodladh
• Italian: addormentarsi (it)
• Japanese: 寝る (ja) (ねる, neru), 寝静まる (ja) (ねしずまる, neshizumaru), 眠りに落ちる (ねむりにおちる, nemuri ni ochiru), 寝入る (ja) (ねいる, neiru), 寝付く (ja) (ねつく, netsuku)
• Kazakh: ұйқыға кету (ūiqyğa ketu)
• Khmer: ដេកលក់ (deek lŭək)
• Korean: 잠들다 (ko) (jamdeulda), 잠이 들다 (jam-i deulda)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خەو لێکەوتن (xew lêkewtin)

• Kyrgyz: уктоо (ky) (uktoo), уйкуга кетүү (uykuga ketüü)
• Lao: ນອນຫລັບ (nǭn lap), ຫລັບ (lap), ເຊືອບ (sư̄ap)
• Latin: addormiō, obdormiō, addormiscō, obdormiscō
• Latvian: aizmigt
• Lithuanian: užmigti (lt)
• Macedonian: заспива (zaspiva), заспие pf (zaspie)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: унтчих (untčix), унтах (mn) (untax)

• Neapolitan: s'addorme
• Northern Sami: nohkkat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sovne (no), falle i søvn

  Nynorsk: sovna, falla i svevn

• Old Galician-Portuguese: adormecer
• Persian:

  Dari: بَه خواب رَفْتَن (ba xāb raftan)

  Iranian Persian: بِه خواب رَفْتَن (be xâb raftan), خوابَش بُرْدَن (xâbaš bordan)

• Polish: zasypiać (pl) impf, zasnąć (pl) pf, usypiać (pl) impf, usnąć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: adormecer (pt)
• Quechua: siriy (qu)
• Romanian: adormi (ro)
• Russian: засыпа́ть (ru) impf (zasypátʹ), засну́ть (ru) pf (zasnútʹ), усну́ть (ru) pf (usnútʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̀спати pf

  Roman: zàspati (sh) pf

• Slovak: zaspávať impf, zaspať pf, usínať impf, usnúť pf
• Slovene: zaspati pf
• Spanish: dormirse (es), quedarse dormido, adormecerse (es), rolearse (Nicaragua)
• Swedish: somna (sv), falla i sömn (sv)
• Tagalog: makatulog
• Tajik: хоб рафтан (xob raftan), хобаш бурдан (xobaš burdan)
• Thai: หลับไป (làp bpai), โงก (ngôok), หลับ (th) (làp)
• Turkish: uyuyakalmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: засипа́ти impf (zasypáty), засина́ти impf (zasynáty), засну́ти (uk) pf (zasnúty)
• Uzbek: uxlab qolmoq
• Vietnamese: ngủ gục (vi)
• Volapük: slipikön (vo)
• Yiddish: אַנטשלאָפֿן (antshlofn)

to be affected by paresthesia

• Azerbaijani: uyuşmaq, üyüşmək, hissizləşmək, keyimək, keyləşmək
• Catalan: adormir-se (ca)
• Estonian: ära surema
• Finnish: puutua (fi)
• German: einschlafen (de)
• Hungarian: elzsibbad (hu), elgémberedik (hu), elmacskásodik (hu), megmacskásodik (hu)
• Latin: torpescō
• Swedish: somna (sv)

euphemism for "to die"

• Azerbaijani: uyumaq
• Dutch: ontslapen (nl)
• Faroese: sovna burtur
• Finnish: nukkua pois (fi)
• German: entschlafen (de)
• Hungarian: elhuny (hu), jobblétre szenderül
• Italian: spegnersi, spirare (it), addormentarsi (it)
• Japanese: 眠る (ja) (ねむる, nemuru), 永眠する (ja) (えいみんする, eimin suru)
• Polish: odejść (pl), odchodzić (pl)
• Romanian: adormi (ro)
• Russian: почи́ть (ru) pf (počítʹ), опочи́ть (ru) pf (opočítʹ)
• Slovak: zosnúť
• Swedish: somna in (sv)

See also

• put to sleep