bla

See also: BLA, bl a, bl.a., blá, blä, and blå

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Blackfoot.

Symbol

bla

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Blackfoot.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Blackfoot terms

English

Interjection

bla

1. Alternative form of blah (“imitative of idle, meaningless talk”).
   • 2016, Richard Bean, Up On Roof:

     […] Chair of the Women's Committee, bla bla bla, said she won't vote to let Turkey into the EU until Turkish men improve as lovers, […]

Anagrams

• Lab, BAL, Alb., alb, LAB, Lab., lab, abl.

Australian Kriol

Preposition

bla

1. alternative form of blanga

Catalan

Alternative forms

• blan (Balearic)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin blandus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbla]

Adjective

bla (feminine blana, masculine plural blans, feminine plural blanes)

1. soft

   Synonym: tou

2. (figurative) mild, docile

   Synonym: dòcil

3. smooth

   Synonym: suau

4. (figurative) smooth, gentle

   Synonyms: suau, dolç, benigne

Derived terms

• ablanir
• blanejar
• blanenc
• blanesa
• blanet
• blanor
• ou blan

Related terms

• blandícia
• Blanes

Further reading

• “bla”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Franco-Provençal

Noun

bla (Old Fribourgeois, Old Lyonnais, Old Dauphinois) (Valdôtain, Dauphinois)

1. alternative form of blât (“wheat”)

References

• bllât in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “*blād”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 15/1: Germanismes: A–Bryman, page 126

Kabyle

Alternative forms

• mbla, mebla

Etymology

Borrowed from Algerian Arabic بلا (blā), from Arabic بِلَا (bilā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bla/

Preposition

bla

1. without

References

• Association Culturelle Numidya (2025), “Amawal, dictionnaire kabyle-français en ligne”, in Amawal‎^[1], retrieved 2025
• Dallet, Jean-Marie (1982), Dictionnaire kabyle-français: parler des At Mangellat, Algérie (in French), Paris, France

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic بِلَا (bi-lā, literally “with not”). By surface analysis, b’ +‎ le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blaː/
• Rhymes: -aː
• Usually unstressed and then automatically shortened to /bla/.

Preposition

bla

1. without (an ingredient, means, concomitant, quality)

   bla ħalib ― without milk

   • 1949, Anton Buttigieg, “Ir-Riħ u l-Bnazzi”, in Mill-Gallerija ta’ Żgħożiti:

     Ħarbat, mewwet dawk id-dwieli,
     wild il-għaraq tal-ħaddiem,
     żomm il-fqir ġol-gorboġ waħdu,
     u bla ħobż, bla dawl, bla sliem!

     Destroy, kill those vines,
     the offspring of the worker’s sweat,
     keep the poor man in the hovel alone,
     without bread, without light, without peace!

Usage notes

• Bla negates the preposition b’. It is followed by a noun without any article or determiner. In all other cases, especially for the negation of ma’, the preposition mingħajr is used.

Middle English

Adjective

bla

1. alternative form of blo

Old Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse blár.

Adjective

bla

1. blue

Descendants

• Danish: blå

See also

Colors in Old Danish · lyt (layout · text)

hwit	gra	swart
røth	brun	guul
	grøn
		bla

Spanish

Noun

bla m (plural blas)

1. blah (idle talk)

Derived terms

• blablablá, bla bla bla, bla-bla-bla
• blablá, bla bla, bla-bla

Further reading

• “bla”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Adverb

bla

1. misspelling of bl.a.

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blaː/

Noun

bla

1. soft mutation of pla

Mutation

Mutated forms of pla

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
pla	bla	mhla	phla

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English blawen (“to blow; to bluster, scold”), from Old English blāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *blāan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blaː/
• Homophone: blah

Verb

bla (present participle blayeen)

1. to blow
2. to shout

Related terms

• blowe

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 26