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blate

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blate¹

  • /bleɪt/

Rhymes with -eɪt

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Scots blate (“timid, sheepish”), apparently a conflation of:

* Northern Middle English *blate, *blait (“pale, ghastly, terrified”), from Old English blāt (“pale, livid, ghastly”), from Proto-West Germanic *blait (“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Germanic *blaitaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyd- (“pale, pallid”);

* Middle English bleth, bleath (“timid, soft”), from Old English blēaþ (“gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate”), from Proto-Germanic *blauþuz (“weak, timid, void, naked”).

Cognate with German blassen (“to make pale”), bleich (“pale, pallid”). More at bleak, bleach.

adjective blater · blatest

  1. Northern England, Scotland Bashful, sheepish. You'd say Not them; fine legs, and Ma struggling into her blouse would say You're no blate. Who told you they're fine?
  2. Northern England, Scotland Dull, stupid.

blate²

  • /bleɪt/

Rhymes with -eɪt

verb blates · blating · blated

  1. archaic Archaic form of bleat Away they fly, like a party of Indians after buffaloes; while along the road, it may be, cattle are bellowing, sheep blating, dogs barking, hens cackling, and crows cawing.

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MLA

"blate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/blate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

blate. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/blate

Chicago

"blate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/blate.

BibTeX
@misc{blate_2026,
  title = {blate},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/blate},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}