bleat

English

Alternative forms

• blate, blait

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈbliːt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːt

Noun

bleat (plural bleats)

A sheep bleating

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

Synonyms

• (sheep's cry): baa, baaing, bleating

Derived terms

• bleaty
• heather-bleat

Translations

cry of a sheep or a goat

Albanian: blegërij (sq) Arabic: ثُغَاء m (ṯuḡāʔ), مَأْمَأَة (ar) (maʔmaʔa) Bulgarian: блеене (bg) (bleene) Catalan: bel (ca) m Czech: bečení n, bek m, mečení n Danish: mæh (da) Dutch: geblaat (nl) n Esperanto: beo Faroese: jarm n, jarman f, jarming f Finnish: määkiminen (fi), määintä (fi) French: (sheep's cry) bêlement (fr) m, (goat's cry) bêlement (fr) m, béguètement (fr) m German: Blöken (de) n Greek: βέλασμα (el) n (vélasma) Ancient: βληχή f (blēkhḗ) Hawaiian: heʻehe, māʻāʻā Hebrew: פעיה f (pe'iyá), חניבה f (chanivá) Icelandic: jarmur (is) m Ido: bramo (io) Indonesian: embik (id), embek (id), embek (id) Italian: belato (it) m Kurdish: Central Kurdish: باع (ba'), باڵاندن (ballandin) Latin: balatus m Malay: embek Maori: please add this translation if you can Old English: blǣt m, *blǣtung Polish: bek (pl) m Portuguese: balido (pt) m Russian: бле́янье (ru) n (bléjanʹje) / бле́яние (ru) n (bléjanije) Scottish Gaelic: meig, migead, meigead Serbo-Croatian: blejanje Spanish: (sheep's bleat) balido (es) m Swedish: bräkande (sv) n Tagalog: mee, me (tl) Turkish: me (tr), meleme (tr) Yaghnobi: бааст (baast), вааст (vaast), ԝааст (waast)

Verb

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 baas; 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, 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.

   • 2025 October 11, Jo Ellison, “The forever 35 face of fashion”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 23:

     Am I the odd one out for thinking this is quite alarming? That I should find it weird to see a 41-year-old influencer bleating about her “bleph”.

Synonyms

• (make the characteristic cry of a sheep or goat): baa
• (complain): kvetch (US), moan, whinge (UK), whine

Derived terms

• debleat
• outbleat

Translations

to make the cry of a sheep or goat

Arabic: مَأْمَأَ (maʔmaʔa), ثَغَا (ṯaḡā) Bulgarian: блея (bleja) Catalan: belar (ca) Czech: bečet (cs) impf, mečet (cs) impf Danish: bræge, mæe Dutch: blaten (nl), blèren (nl) Esperanto: bei Faroese: jarma Finnish: määkiä (fi) (sheep), päkättää (goat) French: (sheep or goat) bêler (fr), (goat) bégueter (fr), chevroter (fr) Galician: bradar (gl) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: blöken (de) Greek: βελάζω (el) (velázo) Ancient: βληχάομαι (blēkháomai) Hebrew: פעה (he) (pa'á), חנב (he) (chanáv) Icelandic: jarma (is) Ido: bramar (io) Indonesian: embik (id), mengembik (id) Ingrian: bääkkää, bäkättää Italian: belare (it) Latgalian: vēkšt Latin: bālō Latvian: blēt Malay: mengembek Middle English: bleten Norwegian: breke Old English: blǣtan Polish: beczeć (pl) impf Portuguese: balir (pt) Russian: бле́ять (ru) (bléjatʹ) Scottish Gaelic: mèil, meigeall Serbo-Croatian: blejati (sh) Spanish: balar (es) Swedish: bräka (sv) Tagalog: mumee Turkish: melemek (tr) Welsh: brefu (cy)

informal: to complain

Czech: fňukat (cs) impf, kňourat impf Dutch: mekkeren (nl) Finnish: marista (fi) French: rouspéter (fr) German: blöken (de) Greek: βελάζω (el) (velázo) Ido: bramar (io) Polish: beczeć (pl) impf Russian: бле́ять (ru) (bléjatʹ)

Anagrams

• ablet, table, belta, Taleb, blate

Old English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blæ͜ɑːt/

Adjective

blēat

1. wretched, miserable

Declension

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

• wælblēat

Descendants

• Middle English: *blete, *bleet
  • Scots: bleat, blait, bleet

West Frisian

Etymology

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

Cognate with Dutch bloot, German bloß.

Adjective

bleat

1. bare, naked
2. poor

Inflection

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

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