English
Etymology 1
False colors scanning electron micrograph of a flea .
From Middle English fle , from Old English flēah , flēa , from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (compare West Frisian flie , Low German Flo , Flö , Dutch vlo , German Floh , Icelandic fló ), from pre-Germanic *plóukos , *plówkos , from Proto-Indo-European *plúsis (compare Latin pulex , Sanskrit प्लुषि ( plúṣi ) ).
The archaic plural fleen is from Middle English fleen , flen , from Old English flēan ( “ fleas ” ) .
Pronunciation
Noun
flea (plural fleas )
A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera , renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
( derogatory ) A thing of no significance.
1871 , Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Heart of the Continent , page 414 :The nation of beggars on horseback which first colonized California has left behind it many traditions unworthy of conservation, and multitudinous fleas not at all traditional, but even less keepworthy [ …]
Derived terms
Translations
parasitic insect
Abkhaz: аӡ ( adz )
Afrikaans: vlooi
Albanian: plesht (sq) m
Arabic: بُرْغُوث m ( burḡūṯ )
Egyptian Arabic: برغوت m ( barḡūt )
Aragonese: pulz
Armenian: լու (hy) ( lu )
Aromanian: puric
Asturian: pulga f
Azerbaijani: birə (az)
Bashkir: бөрсә ( börsə )
Basque: arkakuso
Bats: ფსიკ ( psiḳ )
Belarusian: блыха́ f ( blyxá )
Bengali: উপমক্ষিকা ( upomokkhika )
Bulgarian: бълха́ (bg) f ( bǎlhá )
Burmese: လှေး (my) ( hle: ) , အလှေး (my) ( a.hle: )
Catalan: puça (ca) f
Chepang: य्हुङः
Cherokee: ᏣᏑᎦ ( tsasuga )
Chinese:
Dungan: гызо ( gɨzo ) , гәзо ( gəzo )
Mandarin: 蚤 (zh) ( zǎo ) , 跳蚤 (zh) ( tiàozǎo ) , 虼蚤 (zh) ( gèzǎo )
Min Nan: 虼蚤 (zh-min-nan) ( ka-cháu )
Classical Nahuatl: tecpin
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 f
Fijian: kutu (fj)
Finnish: kirppu (fi)
French: puce (fr) f
Friulian: pulç f , pulč f
Georgian: რწყილი ( rc̣q̇ili )
German: ( ♂♀ ) Floh (de) m , ( ♂ ) Flohmännchen n , ( ♀ ) Flohweibchen n
Greek: ψύλλος (el) m ( psýllos )
Ancient: ψύλλος m ( psúllos )
Guaraní: tûngusu
Hawaiian: 'uku
Hebrew: פַּרְעוֹשׁ (he) ( par'ósh )
Hindi: पिस्सू (hi) ( pissū )
Hungarian: bolha (hu)
Icelandic: fló (is) f
Ido: please add this translation if you can
Indonesian: pinjal (id)
Interlingua: pulice
Interlingue: Lua error in Module:translations at line 74 : Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages.
Irish: dreancaid (ga) f
Italian: pulce (it) f
Japanese: 蚤 (ja) ( のみ, nomi ) , ノミ (ja) ( nomi )
Javanese: please add this translation if you can
Kazakh: бүрге (kk) ( bürge )
Khmer: ចៃ (km) ( cay ) , ដង្កែ (km) ( dɑngkae ) , អំបាត (km) ( ʼɑmbaat )
Kikuyu: thuya class 9 /10 , kĩroboto class 7 ( large one )
Korean: 벼룩 (ko) ( byeoruk )
Kurdish: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 291 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Central Kurdish: كێچ
Southern Kurdish: کەیک ( keyk )
Kyrgyz: бүргө (ky) ( bürgö )
Lao: ໝັດ ( mat )
Latin: pūlex (la) m
Latvian: blusa (lv) f
Lithuanian: blusa (lt) f
Luxembourgish: Flou f
Macedonian: болва f ( bolva )
Malagasy: parasy (mg)
Malay: pinjal
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Maltese: bergħud m
Manx: jargan m
Mongolian: нохой бөөс ( noxoj böös )
Navajo: yaaʼ
Northern Ohlone: pó̄r
Norwegian:
Bokmål: loppe m or f
Nynorsk: loppe f
Novial: Lua error in Module:translations at line 74 : Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages. , Lua error in Module:translations at line 74 : Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages.
Occitan: piusa f
Okinawan: 蚤 ( ぬみ, numi )
Old East Slavic: блъха f ( blŭxa ) , блоха f ( bloxa ) , бълоха f ( bŭloxa )
Old English: please add this translation if you can
Old Norse: fló f
Pashto: ورږه f ( wrə́ẓa )
Persian: کک (fa) ( kak ) , کیک (fa) ( kayk )
Polabian: blåxă f
Polish: pchła (pl) f
Portuguese: pulga (pt) f
Quechua: piki
Romanian: purice (ro) m
Romansch: pilesch , pelisch , pelesch , pülesch , pülsch
Russian: блоха́ (ru) f ( bloxá )
S'gaw Karen: ကျံ ( klee )
Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
Sardinian: puighi , puliche , pulige , pulighe , pulixi
Scots: flae
Scottish Gaelic: deargad f , deargann f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: бу̀ва f
Roman: bùva (sh) f , bùha (sh) f
Sicilian: pùlici (scn) , puci (scn) , purci (scn)
Sinhalese: බලුමැක්කා ( balumækkā )
Slovak: blcha (sk) f
Slovene: bólha (sl) f
Slovincian: pχlȧ̃ f
Somali: booddo
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: pcha f , bcha f
Upper Sorbian: pcha f
Spanish: pulga (es) f
Svan: ზჷსყ ( zəsq̇ )
Swahili: kiroboto (sw) class 7 /8
Swedish: loppa (sv) c
Tagalog: pulgas , hanip ( chicken flea )
Tajik: кайк (tg) ( kayk )
Taos: phìayána
Tatar: борча (tt) ( borça )
Thai: หมัด (th) ( màt )
Tibetan: ལྗི་བ ( lji ba )
Turkish: pire (tr)
Turkmen: büre (tk)
Ukrainian: блоха́ (uk) f ( bloxá )
Urdu: پسو ( pissū )
Uyghur: بۈرگە ( bürge )
Uzbek: burga (uz)
Venetian: pulç , pulxo , polxe , pulexe , pułexe , pułega
Vietnamese: bọ chét (vi)
Vilamovian: fłuch m
Volapük: ( ♂♀ ) flib (vo) , ( ♂ ) hiflib , ( ♀ ) jiflib
Welsh: chwannen f , chwain f pl
Wolof: fel wi (wo)
Yiddish: פֿלוי m ( floy )
Yup'ik: keggerpak
Yámana: šinuš
Zazaki: keki
Zhuang: maet
Etymology 2
Alternative forms.
Verb
flea (third-person singular simple present fleas , present participle fleaing , simple past and past participle flead )
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 [...].
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