oat

English

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oat^¹

/ˈəʊt/ UK
/ˈɵ̞ʊt/ UK
/ˈoʊ̯t/ Canada, US
/ˈɔʊ̯t/ Canada, US
/ˈoːt/
/ˈəʉ̯t/ Australia, New Zealand
/ˈɐ̝ʉ̯t/ Australia, New Zealand

Sounds like ot- · Rhymes with -əʊt

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English ote, from Old English āte, from Proto-West Germanic *aitā, from Proto-Germanic *aitǭ (“swelling; gland; nodule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyd- (“to swell”). See English atter (“poison”).

Cognates

* Germanic: cognate with Scots ait (“oat”), West Frisian oat (“wild oat”), Dutch oot, aat (“wild oat”), Saterland Frisian Aate (“pea”), German Low German Aat (“oat”), obsolete Luxembourgish Otz (“oat”). Further related to Icelandic eitill (“nodule”), Norwegian Bokmål eitel (“knot, gland”), Norwegian Nynorsk eitel (“knot, gland”), Old High German eiz (“abscess”) (German Eiter (“pus”), Eiß (“ulcer”)), Dutch etter (“pus”), Saterland Frisian eitel (“fast, raging”), Old Norse eitill (“nodule”)

* Indo-European: Latin aemidus (“swollen, protuberant”), Old Church Slavonic ꙗдъ (jadŭ, “poison”), Ancient Greek οἰδέω (oidéō, “to swell”), Albanian ënjt (“to swell, inflame”), Old Armenian այտնում (aytnum, “to swell”), այտ (ayt, “cheek”), Sanskrit इन्दु (índu, “water drop”)

noun oats

uncountable Widely cultivated cereal grass, typically Avena sativa. The oat stalks made good straw.
countable Any of the numerous species, varieties, or cultivars of any of several similar grain plants in genus Avena. The wild red oat is thought to be the ancestor of modern food oats.
countable, uncountable, usually, as plural The seeds of the oat, a grain, harvested as a food crop and for animal feed. […]I could munch your good dry Oates. Me-thinkes I haue a great deſire to a bottle of hay: good hay, ſweete hay hath no fellow.
countable, uncountable A simple musical pipe made of oat-straw.
countable, uncountable The tiniest amount; a whit or jot. Few of them care an oat for the niceties of the arrow sport, but for the young lords that may be on a hunt!

oat^²

phrase

Alternative letter-case form of OAT

OAT^³

phrase oat

Internet, abbreviation, initialism Initialism of of all time

noun oat

abbreviation, uncountable Abbreviation of oligoasthenoteratozoospermia

Translations

Every language

noun widely cultivated cereal grass

Español	avena
한국어	귀리 gwiri
日本語	烏麦 karasumugi, カラスムギ karasumugi, 燕麦 enbaku, オートムギ ōtomugi
中文	燕麥 /燕麦 yànmài
हिन्दी	जई jaī
Português	aveia
Français	avoine
Deutsch	Hafer
Italiano	avena
Ελληνικά	βρόμη vrómi, βρώμη vrómi
Română	ovăz
Русский	овёс ovjós
Tiếng Việt	yến mạch
العربية	شُوفَان šūfān, خَرْطَال ḵarṭāl

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{oat_2026,
  title = {oat},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/oat},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}

oat