BLEAT
What does "BLEAT" mean?
To make the wavering, plaintive cry of a sheep, goat, or calf.
Meanings
- To utter the characteristic cry of a sheep or goat. The lambs bleated for their mothers across the field.
- To complain or speak in a weak, whining, or feeble way. He bleated about the unfairness of it all. figurative
- The cry of a sheep or goat, or a similar weak sound. A faint bleat came from the barn.
Did you know?
- A bleat isn't just noise: ewes and their lambs identify each other by individual vocal signatures, so a mother can pick out her own baby's cry from a whole noisy flock.
Word origin
From Old English 'blætan', an imitative (onomatopoeic) word formed to echo the wavering 'baa' of a sheep, paralleled by similar imitative words across the Germanic languages.
Remember it
BLEAT contains 'EAT' — but a sheep bleats first when it wants to EAT (or be fed).
A little poem
One lamb, then the field-
a hundred small complaints rise
and the dusk forgives them.
haiku
Wordplay
- Why did the sheep keep complaining? It had a real talent for bleating around the bush.
What it teaches
There's a thin line between a real cry for help and an empty bleat - tone decides which one the world answers.
Quick facts
What does BLEAT mean?
To make the wavering, plaintive cry of a sheep, goat, or calf.
Is BLEAT a valid word?
Yes — BLEAT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is BLEAT?
BLEAT has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does BLEAT come from?
From Old English 'blætan', an imitative (onomatopoeic) word formed to echo the wavering 'baa' of a sheep, paralleled by similar imitative words across the Germanic languages.
What can BLEAT teach us?
There's a thin line between a real cry for help and an empty bleat - tone decides which one the world answers.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.