sleet

English

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

Etymology

From Middle English, from a Germanic language. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud). The term is akin to dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliːt/
• Rhymes: -iːt

Noun

sleet (countable and uncountable, plural sleets)

1. (chiefly Britain, Ireland) A mixture of rain and snow.
2. Rain which freezes before reaching the ground.
3. (firearms) Part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.

Synonyms

• ice pellets
• slush

Translations

mixture of rain and snow

• Catalan: aiguaneu f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 凍雨 (zh), 冻雨 (zh), 霰 (zh), 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 (is) f, kraparigning f, bleytukafald n
• Ido: greleto (io)
• Irish: flichshneachta (ga)
• 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
• 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

rain which freezes before reaching the ground

• Bulgarian: сугра́шица (bg) f (sugrášica)
• Catalan: aiguaneu f
• Chinese:

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

• Dutch: ijzel (nl)
• Finnish: jäätävä sade, jäätävä tihku
• French: grésil (fr) m
• Georgian: თოვლჭყაპი (tovlč̣q̇aṗi)
• German: Eisregen (de) m
• Icelandic: ískorn n, ísing (is) f
• Ido: greleto (io)
• Italian: pioggia gelata f
• 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: granizo (pt) m, saraiva (pt) f
• Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f, fleșcăială (ro) f
• Russian: мо́крый снег m (mókryj sneg), дождь со сне́гом (doždʹ so snégom), ледяно́й дождь m (ledjanój doždʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: flin m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: susnežica (sh) f

• Slovene: sodra f
• Spanish: aguanieve (es) f
• Welsh: eirlaw m

See also

• snow
• 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.

Translations

to be in a state in which sleet is falling

• Dutch: gijzelen (nl)
• Finnish: sataa räntää
• French: grésiller (fr)
• Icelandic: setja niður slyddu, vera slydda (is)
• Ido: greletar (io)

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

References

• AMS Glossary of Meteorology

Further reading

• Sleet in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

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

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sleːt/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

sleet ? (uncountable)

1. 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