barefoot

See also: Barefoot

English

Etymology

From Middle English barefote, barfot, from Old English bærfōt (“barefoot”), from Proto-Germanic *bazafōts (“barefoot”) equivalent to bare +‎ foot. Cognate with Scots barefit (“barefoot”), Old Frisian berfōt ("barefoot"; modern Saterland Frisian boarfouts (“barefoot”, adverb)), Dutch barrevoets (“barefoot”, adverb), German barfuß (“barefoot”), Danish barfodet (“barefoot”), Swedish barfota (“barefoot”, adverb), Icelandic berfættur (“barefoot”), Yiddish באָרוועס‎ (borves, “barefoot”).

barefoot (1)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɹfʊt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛəfʊt/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːɹfʊt/, /ˈbæɹfʊt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: barefoot

Adjective

barefoot (not comparable)

1. Wearing nothing on the feet.

   After taking off their shoes, socks and sandals at the doorway, the kids were barefoot.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 9, column 1:

     [L]ike Hedg-hogs vvhich / Lye tumbling in my bare-foote vvay, and mount / Their pricks at my foot-fall: ſometime am I / All vvound vvith Adders, vvho vvith clouen tongues / Doe hiſſe me into madneſſe: […]

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 60:

     It was firm enough to walk on, but Bradly took off his boots to preserve the leather from sea-water, and for the pleasure of barefoot walking on cool sand.

2. (informal) Of a vehicle on an icy road: not using snow chains.
3. (CB radio, slang) Transmitting without the use of an amplifier.

Synonyms

• barefooted, discalced, shoeless, unshod, unshoed

Translations

wearing nothing on the feet

• Alemannic German: barfießich
• Arabic: حَافٍ‎ (ḥāfin) (indefinite), حَافِي‎ (ar) (ḥāfī) (colloquial)

  Egyptian Arabic: حافي‎ (ḥāfi)

  Hijazi Arabic: حفيان‎ m (ḥafyān)

  Moroccan Arabic: حفيان‎ m (ḥafyān)

• Armenian: բոբիկ (hy) (bobik)
• Aromanian: discultsu, discults
• Azerbaijani: ayaqyalın, yalınayaq, ayağı çılpaq
• Bashkir: ялан аяҡ (yalan ayaq)
• Belarusian: бо́сы (bósy), басано́гі (basanóhi), неабу́ты (njeabúty)
• Breton: diarc'hen (br), divotoù (br)
• Bulgarian: бос (bg) (bos), необу́т (bg) (neobút)
• Catalan: descalç (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 赤腳／赤脚 (zh) (chìjiǎo), 光腳／光脚 (zh) (guāngjiǎo)

• Corsican: scalzu (co)
• Czech: bosý (cs)
• Danish: barfodet
• Dutch: barrevoets (nl), blootsvoets (nl) (as adverb only)
• Esperanto: nudpieda (eo)
• Faroese: berføttur, berbeinaður, berleggjaður
• Finnish: paljasjalkainen (fi)
• French: pieds nus (fr)
• Friulian: discolç
• Galician: descalzo
• Gallo: déchaou
• Georgian: ფეხშიშველა (pexšišvela)
• German: barfuß (de), barfüßig (de)
• Greek: ξυπόλυτος (el) (xypólytos)

  Ancient: ἀνυπόδητος (anupódētos)

• Hebrew: יָחֵף‎ (he) (yakhéf)
• Hungarian: mezítlábas (hu)
• Icelandic: berfættur m
• Indonesian: telanjang kaki
• Irish: cosnochta
• Italian: scalzo (it) m, a piedi nudi
• Japanese: 裸足 (ja) (はだし, hadashi), 素足 (ja) (すあし, suashi)
• Kazakh: жалаңаяқ (jalañaäq)
• Korean: 맨발의 (ko) (maenbar-ui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: xwas (ku), lingxwas (ku), nigxwas (ku), pêxwas (ku), pîxwas (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жыңайлак (ky) (jıŋaylak), жыңалаяк (ky) (jıŋalayak)
• Ladin: deschëuz
• Luxembourgish: baarbes
• Macedonian: бос (bos), босоног (bosonog)
• Malay: kaki ayam
• Maltese: ħafi m, ħafja f, ħafjin pl
• Maori: kore hū
• Navajo: ké tʼáágééd
• Neapolitan: scauzo
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barbeint

• Old East Slavic: босъ (bosŭ)
• Old English: bærfōt
• Persian: پابرهنه‎ (fa) (pâberahne)
• Plautdietsch: boaft
• Polish: bosy (pl)
• Portuguese: descalço (pt), descalça (pt) f
• Romanian: desculț (ro)
• Russian: босо́й (ru) (bosój), необу́тый (ru) (neobútyj), босоно́гий (ru) (bosonógij), бо́сый (ru) (bósyj)
• Sardinian: iscultzu, isciurtzu, iscurtzu, iscúlciu, iscrutzu, iscursu, iscurtu
• Scots: barefit
• Scottish Gaelic: casruisgte
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бо̑с, босо̀ног

  Roman: bȏs (sh), bosònog (sh)

• Sicilian: scàusu (scn)
• Slovak: bosý
• Slovene: bos (sl), bosonog
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: bósy, bósučki

• Spanish: descalzo (es), chuña (es) (El Salvador, Honduras), a pies pelados m
• Swedish: barfota (sv)
• Tagalog: yapak
• Tajik: побараҳна (pobarahna), пойлуч (tg) (poyluč)
• Tashelhit: ⵃⴼⵢⴰⵏ c (ḥfyan)
• Tibetan: རྐང་རྗེན་མ (rkang rjen ma)
• Turkish: yalınayak
• Turkmen: ýalaňaç
• Ukrainian: бо́сий (uk) (bósyj), босоно́гий (uk) (bosonóhyj), невзу́тий (nevzútyj)
• Uyghur: يالاڭئاياق‎ (yalang'ayaq)
• Uzbek: yalangoyoq
• Venetian: descalso, descalço, descals, descolzh, descolz
• Vietnamese: chân đất, chân không, chân trần
• Volapük: nüdafutik (vo)
• Walloon: a pîs dischås (wa), a pîs dschås (wa)
• Welsh: troednoeth
• Yiddish: באָרוועס‎ (borves)

Adverb

barefoot (not comparable)

1. Wearing nothing on the feet.
   • 2007, Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin, Star Trek: Enterprise: The Good That Men Do:

     Ignoring the familiar discomfort, he padded barefoot across the thick white carpet toward the heavy curtains that lined the richly appointed bedroom’s wide transparisteel window.

   She likes to go barefoot in the summertime.

2. (CB radio slang) Transmitting without the use of an amplifier.

Derived terms

• barefoot and pregnant
• barefoot doctor
• barefooting
• run barefoot through
• the shoemaker's children go barefoot

 

Translations

wearing nothing on the feet

• Albanian: zbathur (sq)
• Arabic: حافي القدمين‎
• Armenian: բոբիկ (hy) (bobik)
• Azerbaijani: ayaqyalın
• Bashkir: ялан аяҡ (yalan ayaq)
• Basque: oin-has
• Belarusian: басано́ж (basanóž)
• Breton: diarc'hen (br), divotoù (br)
• Bulgarian: бос (bg) (bos)
• Catalan: descalç (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 赤腳／赤脚 (zh) (chìjiǎo)

• Chuvash: ҫарран (śarran)
• Czech: bosky
• Danish: barfodet
• Dutch: barrevoets (nl), blootsvoets (nl), op blote voeten
• Esperanto: nudpiede
• Finnish: paljain jaloin, avojaloin (fi)
• French: pieds nus (fr)
• Georgian: ფეხშიშველა (pexšišvela)
• German: barfuß (de), barfüßig (de)
• Greek: ξυπόλητα (xypólita), ανυπόδετα (anypódeta)
• Hungarian: mezítláb (hu)
• Icelandic: berfættur, berum fótum
• Irish: cosnochta
• Italian: scalzo (it) m, a piedi nudi
• Japanese: 裸足で (ja) (はだしで, hadashi de), 素足で (ja) (すあしで, suashi de)
• Kazakh: жалаңаяқ (jalañaäq)
• Korean: 맨발로 (ko) (maenbal-lo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: xwas (ku), lingxwas (ku), nigxwas (ku), pêxwas (ku), pîxwas (ku)

• Ladin: deschëuz
• Malay: berkaki ayam
• Polish: boso (pl), na bosaka
• Portuguese: descalço (pt)
• Romanian: desculț (ro)
• Russian: босико́м (ru) (bosikóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: casruisgte
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бо̑с, босо̀ног

  Roman: bȏs (sh), bosònog (sh)

• Slovak: boso, bosky, naboso
• Spanish: descalzo (es)
• Swedish: barfota (sv)
• Turkish: yalınayak
• Ukrainian: босо́ніж (uk) (bosóniž)
• Uyghur: يالاڭئاياق‎ (yalang'ayaq)
• Volapük: nüdafuto (vo), nüdafutiko

Further reading

• barefoot on Wikipedia.Wikipedia