et

See also: Appendix:Variations of "et"

Languages (45)

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Possibly from either an abbreviation of English Estonian or Estonian eesti.

Symbol

et

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Estonian.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Estonian terms

English

Etymology

From Middle English et, from Old English ǣt, from Proto-West Germanic *āt, from Proto-Germanic *ēt. Doublet of ate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

Verb

et

1. (informal, dialectal) Pronunciation spelling of ate, the simple past and past participle of eat.
   • 1896, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Tom Sawyer, Detective :

     So we got to talking together while he et his breakfast.

   • 1907, O. Henry, Seats of the Haughty‎:

     'Boss,' says the cabby, 'I et a steak in that restaurant once. If you're real hungry, I advise you to try the saddle-shops first.'

   • 1919, Bess Streeter Aldrich, A Long-Distance Call From Jim‎:

     Well, I don't care if he does! I can remember the time when he et a good old-fashioned supper.

   • 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

     Yer can't expect folk to stop here for ever just to be et by you and Bert.

   • 1946 February 18, Life magazine:

     It must have been somethin’ I et!

   • 1985 February 9, Pip and Jane Baker, The Mark of the Rani episode 2, spoken by the Rani:

     [My banishment was p]etty spite on the part of the Lord President, just because they [my lab mice] et his cat.

   • 1996, Dana Lyons, Cows with Guns:

     They eat to grow, grow to die / Die to be et at the hamburger fry.

   • 2001, Richard Williams, The Animator's Survival Kit, page 220:

     Something I et?

   • 2004, Edward Lee, The Big Head, Overlook Connection Press, →ISBN, page 54:

     The girl screamed as The Bighead et out her clitoris and surroundin' folds'a girlskin. Lotta blood down there already—from the corin' he'd just given her—and Bighead liked the taste'a blood, yessir, 'specially when it were mixed with the taste'a girlmeat.

   • 2023, John McPhee, Tabula Rasa, page 28:

     And when the last partridge was et, the last bit of Badajoz goat, I handed the waiter a Visa card.

Anagrams

• TE, te