flea

See also fleá

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

False colors scanning electron micrograph of a flea

From Middle English fle, from Old English flēah, flēa, from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (cf. West Frisian flie, Dutch vlo, German Floh), from pre-Germanic *plóukos, from Proto-Indo-European *plúsis.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fliː/, X-SAMPA: /fli:/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

• Homophones: flee

Noun

flea (plural fleas)

1. A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
2. A thing of no significance.

Derived terms

• flea market
• sand flea
• sand fly
• sandfly

Translations

parasitic insect

• Abkhaz: аӡ (ab) (aʒ)
• Afrikaans: vlooi (af)
• Albanian: plesht (sq) m
• Arabic: برغوث (ar) (burġūṯ) m
• Armenian: լու (hy) (lu)
• Aromanian: puric (rup)
• Azeri: birə (az)
• Basque: arkakuso (eu)
• Belarusian: блыха (be) (blyxá) f
• Bengali: উপমক্ষিকা (bn) (upômôkshika)
• Bulgarian: бълха (bg) (bǎlhá) f
• Burmese: လှေး (my) (hlei:), အလှေး (my) (ahlei:)
• Catalan: puça f
• Cherokee: ᏣᏑᎦ (chr) (tsasuga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蚤 (cmn) (zǎo), 跳蚤 (cmn) (tiàozǎo)

  Min Nan: ka-cháu

• Czech: blecha (cs) f
• Dalmatian: pulco m
• Danish: loppe (da) c
• Dutch: vlo (nl) f
• Esperanto: pulo (eo)
• Estonian: kirp (et)
• Ewe: dosu n
• Faroese: loppa (fo) f
• Fijian: kutu
• Finnish: kirppu (fi)
• French: puce (fr) f
• Friulian: pulč f
• Georgian: რწყილი (ka) (rts‘q‘ili)
• German: Floh (de) m
• Greek: ψύλλος (el) (psýllos) m
• Guaraní: tûngusu (gn)
• Hawaiian: 'uku
• Hebrew: פרעוש (he) (parósh)
• Hindi: पिस्सू (hi) (pissū)
• Hungarian: bolha (hu)
• Icelandic: fló (is) f
• Indonesian: kutu (id)
• Irish: dreancaid (ga) f
• Italian: pulce (it) f
• Japanese: 蚤 (ja) (のみ, nomi), ノミ (ja) (nomi)
• Kazakh: бүрге (kk) (bürge)
• Khmer: ចៃឆ្កែ (km) (jai chgai)
• Korean: 벼룩 (ko) (byeoruk)
• Kurdish: kêç (ku)
• Kyrgyz: бүргө (ky) (bürgö)
• Lao: ໝັດ (lo) (mat)
• Latin: pulex (la) m
• Latvian: blusa (lv) f

• Lithuanian: blusa (lt) f
• Macedonian: болва (mk) (bólva) f
• Malagasy: parasy (mg)
• Malay: kutu (ms)
• Maltese: bergħud (mt) m
• Mongolian: нохой бөөс (mn) (nohoy böös)
• Navajo: yaaʼ
• Norwegian: loppe (no) f
• Occitan: piusa (oc) f
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Old Norse: fló f
• Persian: کک (fa) (kek), کیک (fa) (keyk)
• Polabian: blåxă f
• Polish: pchła (pl) f
• Portuguese: pulga (pt) f
• Romanian: purice (ro) m
• Romansch: pilesch (rm), pelisch (rm), pelesch (rm), pülesch (rm), pülsch (rm)
• Russian: блоха (ru) (bloxá) f
• Sardinian: puighi (sc), puliche (sc), pulige (sc), pulighe (sc), pulixi (sc)
• Scottish Gaelic: deargad f, deargann f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бува (sh) f, буха (sh) f

  Roman: buva (sh) f, buha (sh) f

• Sinhalese: බලුමැක්‍කා (si) (balumækkā)
• Slovak: blcha (sk) f
• Slovene: bolha (sl) f
• Somali: booddo
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pcha f

• Spanish: pulga (es) f
• Swahili: kiroboto (sw) (nc 7/8)
• Swedish: loppa (sv) c
• Tagalog: pulgas (tl)
• Tajik: кайк (tg) (kayk)
• Taos: phìayána
• Tatar: борча (tt) (borça)
• Thai: หมัด (th) (màt)
• Turkish: pire (tr)
• Turkmen: büre (tk)
• Ukrainian: блоха (uk) (bloxá) f
• Urdu: پسو (ur) (pissū)
• Uyghur: بۈرگە (ug) (bürge)
• Uzbek: burga (uz)
• Vietnamese: con bọ chét (vi)
• Vilamovian: fłuch m
• Volapük: (male or female) flib (vo), (male) hiflib (vo), (female) jiflib (vo)
• Wolof: fel wi (wo)
• Yiddish: פֿלױ (yi) (floy)

Etymology 2

Alternative forms.

Verb

flea

1. Obsolete spelling of flay.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 74:

     In this Thwackum had the advantage; for while Square could only scarify the poor lad's reputation, he could flea his skin [...].

Anagrams

• alef
• Lafe
• leaf