sleet

English

A small amount of slush can be produced from a mixture of rain and snow

Etymology

From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, ultimately derived from or related to Proto-Germanic *slautô (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliːt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːt

Noun

sleet (countable and uncountable, plural sleets)

1. (chiefly US) Pellets of ice made of mostly frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.

   Synonym: ice pellets

2. (chiefly Britain, Ireland, New England) A mixture of rain and snow.

   Synonym: slush

3. (rare) A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain.

   Synonyms: black ice, glaze

4. (firearms) Part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.

Translations

ice pellets

• Dutch: ijsregen (nl) m
• French: grésil (fr) m
• German: Eiskorn (de) n
• Italian: gragnola f

• Portuguese: grão de gelo m
• Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f
• Spanish: perdigón de hielo m

mixture of rain and snow

• Albanian: sqotë (sq)
• Aromanian: jigãrditsã
• Catalan: aiguaneu f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 凍雨 (zh), 冻雨 (zh) (dòngyǔ), 霰 (zh) (xiàn), 雨夾雪 (zh), 雨夹雪 (zh) (yǔjiāxuě), 雨雪 (zh) (yùxuě)

• Czech: plískanice (cs) f
• Danish: slud (da) n
• Dutch: sneeuwregen m
• Finnish: räntä (fi), räntäsade
• Georgian: თოვლჭყაპი (tovlč̣q̇aṗi)
• German: Schneeregen (de) m
• Hungarian: havaseső
• Icelandic: slydda f, kraparigning f, bleytukafald n
• Ido: greleto (io)
• Irish: flichshneachta (ga)
• Italian: pioggia mista a neve f, acquaneve f (informal)
• Japanese: 氷雨 (ja) (ひさめ, hisame)
• Luxembourgish: Schnéireen m

• Macedonian: лапавица f (lapavica)
• Maori: waiwaha, tarahi huka
• Norman: verglias m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sludd (no) n

  Nynorsk: sludd n

• Polish: deszcz ze śniegiem m
• Portuguese: água-neve (pt) f
• Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f
• Russian: мо́крый снег m (mókryj sneg), дождь со сне́гом (doždʹ so snégom), ледяно́й дождь m (ledjanój doždʹ)
• Spanish: aguanieve (es) f
• Swedish: slask (sv) n, snöblandat regn n, snöglopp n
• Turkish: sulu sepken (tr), kargın (tr)
• Welsh: eirlaw m

glaze ice formed by freezing rain

• Bulgarian: сугра́шица (bg) f (sugrášica)
• Catalan: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 凍雨 (zh), 冻雨 (zh) (dòngyǔ), 霰 (zh) (xiàn), 雨夾雪 (zh), 雨夹雪 (zh) (yǔjiāxuě), 雨雪 (zh) (yùxuě)

• Dutch: ijzel (nl)
• Finnish: jäätävä sade, jäätävä tihku
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: თოვლჭყაპი (tovlč̣q̇aṗi)
• German: Eisregen (de) m
• Hungarian: ónos eső
• Icelandic: ískorn n, ísing (is) f
• Ido: greleto (io)
• Italian: vetrone m
• Japanese: 霙 (ja) (みぞれ, mizore)
• Korean: 진눈깨비 (ko) (jinnunkkaebi)
• Latvian: krusa (lv)

• Maori: waiwaha
• Navajo: níló yázhí
• Norman: né fondue f
• Persian: برف‌باران‎
• Polish: marznący deszcz (pl) m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f, fleșcăială (ro) f
• Russian: мо́крый снег m (mókryj sneg), дождь со сне́гом (doždʹ so snégom), ледяно́й дождь m (ledjanój doždʹ), крупа́ (ru) f (krupá)
• Scottish Gaelic: flin m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: susnežica (sh) f

• Slovene: sodra f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: eirlaw m

References

• Sleet in Encyclopedia Britannica

See also

• freezing rain
• graupel

Verb

sleet (third-person singular simple present sleets, present participle sleeting, simple past and past participle sleeted)

1. (impersonal, of the weather) To be in a state in which sleet is falling.

   I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting.

   • 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 38:

     It was dark, it was cold, it was sleeting - dreadful conditions for driving... perfect conditions for an accident.

Translations

to be in a state in which sleet is falling

• Cimbrian: brüskalan
• Dutch: gijzelen (nl)
• Finnish: sataa räntää
• French: grésiller (fr)
• Icelandic: setja niður slyddu, vera slydda

• Ido: greletar (io)
• Norwegian: sluddvær n
• Portuguese: granizar (pt)
• Romanian: lapovița (ro)
• Welsh: bwrw eirlaw

Further reading

• sleet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sleet in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• AMS Glossary of Meteorology

Anagrams

• Leets, Steel, Teels, Teles, leets, steel, stele, stelè, stélé, teles

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sleːt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːt

Noun

sleet c (uncountable)

1. (chiefly Belgium) wear

Synonyms

• slijtage

Verb

sleet

1. singular past indicative of slijten
2. second- and third-person singular present indicative of sleeën
3. (archaic) plural imperative of sleeën

Anagrams

• leest, slete, steel, stele