suckle

English

A mother suckling an infant (painting by Mosè Bianchi)

Etymology

From Middle English sukelen; probably a back-formation of Middle English sukeling (“a suckling; infant”), formally equivalent to suck +‎ -le (frequentative suffix). See suckling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sʌ.kəl/
• Rhymes: -ʌkəl

Noun

suckle (plural suckles)

1. (obsolete) A teat.
   • 1638, Thomas Herbert, Some yeares travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique, London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, “Travels begun Anno 1626,” Book 1, p. 26,^[1]

     […] the body of this fish [the Mannatee] is commonly 3 yards long and one broad, slow in swimming, wanting fins, in their place ayded with 2 paps which are not only suckles but stilts to creep a shoare upon such time she grazes […]

Verb

suckle (third-person singular simple present suckl, present participle ing, simple past and past participle suckled)

1. (transitive) To give suck to; to nurse at the breast, udder, or dugs.
   • c. 1607 William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act I, Scene 3,^[2]

     […] the breasts of Hecuba

     When she did suckle Hector, looked not lovelier

     Than Hector’s forehead when it spit forth blood

     At Grecian sword, contemning.

   • 1826, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations, London: Henry Colburn, 2nd edition, Volume I, “The Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney,” p. 35,^[3]

     Let us indulge them; they are not weak, suckled by Wisdom, taught to walk by Virtue.

2. (intransitive) To nurse; to suck milk from a nursing mother.
   • 1931, Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth, New York: Modern Library, 1944, Chapter 4, p. 35,^[4]

     But out of the woman’s great brown breast the milk gushed forth for the child, milk as white as snow, and when the child suckled at one breast it flowed like a fountain from the other, and she let it flow.

3. (transitive) To nurse from (a breast, nursing mother, etc.).
   • 1982, Bernard Malamud, God’s Grace, New York: Avon, 1983, p. 60^[5]

     Buz attempted to suckle his left nipple.

   • 1997, Ridley Pearson, Beyond Recognition, New York: Hyperion, p. 129,^[6]

     She opened her eyes slightly, like a person drugged—dreamy and quiet. The baby suckled her.

Derived terms

• suckling

Translations

to give suck to

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: رضع (raḍaʿ)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Aromanian: alãptedz
• Catalan: alletar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 餵奶／喂奶 (zh) (wèinǎi), 喂奶 (zh) (wèinǎi), 哺乳 (zh) (bǔrǔ), 母乳餵養／母乳喂养 (zh) (mǔrǔ wèiyǎng), 母乳喂养 (zh) (mǔrǔ wèiyǎng)

• Czech: kojit (cs)
• Esperanto: mamnutri
• Finnish: imettää (fi)
• French: allaiter (fr) (transitive)
• Friulian: latâ
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: stillen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌰𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (daddjan)
• Greek: θηλάζω (el) (thilázo)

  Ancient: θηλάζω (thēlázō)

• Hungarian: szoptat (hu)
• Ido: alaktar (io), mamsugar
• Indonesian: menyusui (id)
• Irish: tál
• Italian: allattare (it)
• Japanese: 授乳する (じゅにゅうする, junyū suru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: nūtriō
• Latvian: zīdīt
• Macedonian: дои (doi)
• Maori: whakangotengote
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: alachar (oc), alaitar (oc), far popar, atessar
• Old Church Slavonic: доити (doiti)
• Polish: karmić mlekiem
• Portuguese: amamentar (pt)
• Romani: chuchi del
• Romanian: alăpta (ro)
• Russian: корми́ть гру́дью impf (kormítʹ grúdʹju), вска́рмливать (ru) impf (vskármlivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: до̀јити

  Roman: dòjiti (sh)

• Spanish: amamantar (es)
• Swedish: amma (sv), dia (sv), dägga (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: sügön (vo), nimafön
• Westrobothnian:

to nurse; to suck

• Finnish: imeä (fi)
• French: téter (fr)
• German: säugen (de)
• Greek: θηλάζω (el) (thilázo), βυζαίνω (el) (vyzaíno)

  Ancient: θηλάζω (thēlázō)

• Indonesian: menyusu (id)
• Irish: diúl
• Italian: poppare (it)
• Latvian: zīst
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: дои (doi)
• Maori: whāngote
• Occitan: mamar, popar (oc)
• Old Irish: ibid
• Portuguese: mamar (pt)
• Romanian: suge (ro)
• Spanish: mamar (es)
• Swedish: dia (sv)
• Volapük: sugön (vo)

Anagrams

• Leucks, Luckes, Luecks

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Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsuklə/

Verb

suckle

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary