blunder

English

Etymology

From Middle English blunder, blonder (“disturbance, strife”), from Middle English blundren, blondren (verb), which itself is partly from Middle English blondren, a frequentative form of Middle English blonden, blanden ("to mix; mix up"; corresponding to blend +‎ -er); and partly from Middle English blundren, a frequentative form of Middle English blunden (“to stagger; stumble”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”).

Cognates include Norwegian blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”), dialectal Swedish blundra (“to act blindly or rashly”), Danish blunde (“to blink”) or blunde (“to take a nap”). Related to English blind.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblʌn.də(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈblʌn.dɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)

Noun

blunder (plural blunders)

1. A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.
2. (chess) A very bad move, usually caused by some tactical oversight.

Synonyms

• (error): blooper, goof, howler see also Thesaurus:error

Derived terms

• blunderfest
• blundersome
• thud and blunder

Descendants

• → Dutch: blunder
• → Swedish: blunder

Translations

mistake

• Bulgarian: груба грешка f (gruba greška), пропуск (bg) m (propusk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 错误 (zh) (cuòwù)

• Dutch: blunder (nl) m
• Finnish: kommellus (fi), kömmähdys (fi), munaus (fi), haksahdus (fi)
• French: (colloquial) gaffe (fr) f, (colloquial) impair (fr) m, faux pas (fr) m, maladresse (fr) f, bourde (fr) f
• German: Patzer (de) m, Schnitzer (de) m, Fehler (de) m, Fehlgriff (de) m, Mißgriff (de) m, Fauxpas (de) m, Fehlleistung (de) f, Ungeschicklichkeit (de) f, Fehltritt (de) m, Versehen (de) n
• Greek: (colloquial) γκάφα (el) f (gkáfa) σφάλμα (el) n (sfálma), λάθος (el) n (láthos), παραδρομή (el) f (paradromí)
• Hebrew: פַּאֲשְׁלָה m (pashlah)
• Hungarian: baklövés (hu), szarvashiba
• Italian: abbaglio (it) m, strafalcione (it) m, cantonata (it), sfondone m, svarione m, topica (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: へま (hema), ポカ (poka)
• Maori: pōkaku, hēnga, paheketanga
• Polish: gafa (pl) f
• Portuguese: erro (pt) m, confusão (pt) m, gafe (pt) f, mico (pt) m, pontapé (pt) m
• Russian: ляп (ru) m (ljap), ля́псус (ru) m (ljápsus), проко́л (ru) m (prokól), про́мах (ru) m (prómax), просчёт (ru) m (prosčót), зево́к (ru) m (zevók)
• Serbo-Croatian: kiks (sh) m, кикс m
• Spanish: error (es) m, (Chile) condoro (es) m, (Colombia) descache (es) m, torpeza (es) f, desliz (es) m, garrafal (es) m, (Latin America) metida de pata (es) f, tropiezo (es) m, desatino (es), topinada f
• Swedish: blunder (sv) c, tabbe (sv) c, tavla (sv) c
• Turkish: hata (tr)

Verb

blunder (third-person singular simple present blunders, present participle blundering, simple past and past participle blundered)

1. (intransitive) To make a clumsy or stupid mistake.

   to blunder in preparing a medical prescription

2. (intransitive) To move blindly or clumsily.
   • October 6, 1759, Oliver Goldsmith, The Bee No. 1

     I was never distinguished for address, and have often even blundered in making my bow.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     blunders on, and staggers every pace

3. (transitive) To cause to make a mistake.
   • 1714, Humphry Ditton, A discourse concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ

     To blunder an adversary.

4. (transitive) To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse.
   • 1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome

     He blunders and confounds all these together.

Translations

To make a stupid mistake

• Bulgarian: правя груби грешки (pravja grubi greški)
• Dutch: blunderen (nl), een flater slaan, een bok schieten, miskleunen (nl), flateren (nl)
• French: faire une gaffe, gaffer (fr), fauter (fr), se tromper (fr), se planter (fr) (familiar)
• German: patzen (de), einen Bock schießen, danebengreifen, vermasseln (de), murksen (de), vermurksen (de), pfuschen (de), Mist bauen, sich blamieren
• Greek: σφάλλω (el) (sfállo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sbagliare (it), prendere una cantonata, prendere un abbaglio, sgarrare (it), errare (it), toppare, spropositare (it)
• Portuguese: cometer erro, fazer (pt) besteira (pt), atrapalhar-se
• Russian: ля́пнуть (ru) pf (ljápnutʹ) (esp. say somethin inappropriate), лопухну́ться (ru) pf (lopuxnútʹsja), (slang) лажа́ться impf (lažátʹsja), облажа́ться (ru) pf (oblažátʹsja)
• Sanskrit: स्रेधति (sredhati)
• Spanish: meter la pata (es)
• Volapük: pökön (vo)

To move blindly or clumsily

• Bulgarian: вървя слепешката (vǎrvja slepeškata)
• German: stolpern (de), herumtappen (de)
• Italian: muoversi a tentoni, andare alla cieca
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: pakihawa
• Russian: дви́гаться о́щупью (dvígatʹsja óščupʹju), дви́гаться на о́щупь (dvígatʹsja na óščupʹ)
• Spanish: dar tumbos

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kiksati (sh)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• Ledburn, bundler

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Danish

Verb

blunder

1. (deprecated template usage) present of blunde

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblʏn.dər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: blun‧der
• Rhymes: -ʏndər

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English blunder, from Middle English blonder, blundur (“disturbance, strife”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes”). Related to blind.

Noun

blunder m (plural blunders, diminutive blundertje n)

1. A blunder, serious error or mistake.

Related terms

• blunderen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

blunder

1. (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of blunderen
2. (deprecated template usage) imperative of blunderen

Anagrams

• brulden

---

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blunder.

Noun

blunder c

1. blunder; clumsy mistake

Declension

Declension of blunder

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	blunder	blunders
	definite	blundern	blunderns
plural	indefinite	blundrar	blundrars
	definite	blundrarna	blundrarnas

Further reading

• blunder in Svensk ordbok.