blet

English
WOTD – 4 September 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from French blettir, coined by John Lindley.[1]

Pronunciation
  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /blɛt/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Verb

blet (third-person singular simple present blets, present participle bletting, simple past and past participle bletted)

  1. To undergo bletting, a fermentation process in certain fruit beyond ripening.

Translations

See also

References
  1. John Lindley (1835) Introduction to Botany, page 296:
    After the period of ripeness, most fleshy fruits undergo a new kind of alteration; their flesh either rots or blets. […] May I be forgiven for coining a word to express that peculiar bruised appearance in some fruits, called blessi [sic] by the French, for which we have no equivalent English expression ?
     Emphasis and footnote in original, and though written as blessi, the French word for bletted is blette, and Lindley coined “blet”, suggesting an error in the text.

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin blitum, from Ancient Greek βλίτον (blíton).

Pronunciation

Noun

blet m (plural blets)

  1. goosefoot

Derived terms
  • blet blanc
  • blet de paret
  • blet moll
  • blet pudent
  • blet punxent

Further reading

French

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

blet (feminine blette, masculine plural blets, feminine plural blettes)

  1. overripe

Further reading

Lithuanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian блядь (bljadʹ).

Interjection

blet

  1. (vulgar) used as filler or intensifier
    Ką tu padarei blet?
    What the fuck did you do?
    Žinojau, blet! Žinojau!
    I fucking knew this!

Usage notes
  • Sometimes used in conjunction with kurva, a feature most likely unique to Lithuanian swearing.

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin bladum.

Noun

blet oblique singular, m (oblique plural blez or bletz, nominative singular blez or bletz, nominative plural blet)

  1. wheat, corn

Descendants
  • French: blé
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