blurt

English

WOTD – 21 July 2006

Etymology

Possibly imitative, or possibly an alteration of Middle English blurden (“to wail, cry out, threaten”), or possibly from Middle English *blerten, *blarten, *blorten, from Old English *blǣrettan, a frequentative or emphatic form of *blǣran (“to blear, bellow, roar”). If so, equivalent to blear +‎ -t.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈblɜːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈblɝt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

Verb

blurt (third-person singular simple present blurts, present participle blurting, simple past and past participle blurted)

1. To utter suddenly and unadvisedly; to speak quickly or without thought; to divulge inconsiderately — commonly with out.

   Synonym: jerk

   Please think about your reply and don't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.

   • 2023 September 30, HarryBlank, “Meeting in the Middle”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 25 May 2024:

     "Who are you?!" he blurted into the woman's palm, and she shook it off in obvious disgust, wiping spittle onto his D-class uniform.

2. (uncommon, informal) To spurt.
   • 2000, Kim Addonizio, “Like That”, in Tell Me:

     the sound of rusty water blurting from the faucet in the kitchen

   • 2016 December 11, steveski, “Poss. soiler for Sun. 11.12.16”, in uk.media.radio.archers‎ (Usenet):

     Blurted tea onto the monitor at FAL being "satisfying" and Brine's reaction . . .

Derived terms

• blurtation
• blurter
• blurtingly
• blurt out

Related terms

• blirt
• blirty

Translations

to speak suddenly and unadvisedly

Bulgarian: издръ́нквам (bg) (izdrǎ́nkvam), изтъ́рсвам (bg) (iztǎ́rsvam) Catalan: etzibar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 脫口而出 / 脱口而出 (zh) (tuōkǒu'érchū), 走嘴 (zh) (zǒuzuǐ) Dutch: uitflappen (nl) Finnish: höläyttää, möläyttää (fi), töksäyttää (fi), täräyttää (fi) French: lâcher (fr), laisser échapper German: herausplatzen, ausquatschen, ausplappern (de) Italian: blaterare (it) Japanese: 口走る (くちばしる, kuchibashiru) Korean: 내뱉다 (ko) (naebaetda) Kyrgyz: айтып сал (ky) pf (aytıp sal), айтып кой (ky) pf (aytıp koy), Russian: сболтну́ть (ru) pf (sboltnútʹ), вы́палить (ru) pf (výpalitʹ), прогова́риваться (ru) impf (progovárivatʹsja), проговори́ться (ru) pf (progovorítʹsja), проба́лтываться (ru) impf (probáltyvatʹsja), проболта́ться (ru) pf (proboltátʹsja), бря́кнуть (ru) pf (brjáknutʹ) Spanish: soltar (es), espetar (es), encasquetar (es)

Noun

blurt (plural blurts)

1. An abrupt outburst.