flea
English · Thesaurus
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
flea¹
- /ˈfliː/
- [ˈflɪi̯]
Sounds like flee · Rhymes with -iː
Where it comes from
From Middle English fle, from Old English flēah, flēa, from Proto-West Germanic *flauh, from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (compare West Frisian flie, Low German Flo, Flö, Dutch vlo, German Floh, Icelandic fló), from pre-Germanic *plóukos, *plówkos, from or akin to Proto-Indo-European *plus- (compare Latin pulex, Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi)).
The archaic plural fleen is from Middle English fleen, flen, from Old English flēan (“fleas”).
noun fleas · fleen
- A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
- A thing of no significance. The nation of beggars on horseback which first colonized California has left behind it many traditions unworthy of conservation, and multitudinous fleas not at all traditional, but even less keepworthy […]
verb fleas · fleaing · fleaed · flead
-
To remove fleas from (an animal).
I have seen a Lubra, or native woman, suckling two puppies; and, like monkeys, these ladies have a particular fancy for fleaing their dogs.
Similar: deflea
flea²
Where it comes from
Alternative forms.
verb fleas · fleaing · flead
- Obsolete spelling of flay […] he'd flea me alive like another St Bartholomew.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: bug, fly, chigoe, pea, puce, microarray, chip, smart, baby, little, girl, bullet, sweetie, sweetheart, bane, footage
Translations
Every language
noun parasitic insect
| Español | pulga |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 벼룩 byeoruk |
| 日本語 | 蚤 nomi, ノミ nomi |
| 中文 | 蚤 zǎo, 跳蚤 tiàozǎo, 虼蚤 gèzǎo |
| हिन्दी | पिस्सू pissū |
| Kiswahili | kiroboto |
| Português | pulga |
| Français | puce |
| Deutsch | Floh, Flohmännchen, Flohweibchen |
| Italiano | pulce |
| Ελληνικά | ψύλλος psýllos |
| Română | purice |
| Русский | блоха́ bloxá |
| Tiếng Việt | bọ chét |
| العربية | بُرْغُوث burḡūṯ |
| עברית | פַּרְעוֹשׁ par'ósh |
Talk about this word "flea." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/flea. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. flea. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/flea "flea." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/flea.Cite this
@misc{flea_2026,
title = {flea},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/flea},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
