Wiktionary

blet

English

edit
WOTD – 4 September 2009
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
 
Bletted medlar (Mespilus germanica) in a trug

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from French blettir, coined by John Lindley.[1]

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

blet (third-person singular simple present blets, present participle bletting, simple past and past participle bletted)

  1. To undergo or cause to undergo bletting, a fermentation process in certain fruit beyond ripening.
    • c. 1835, B. Maund, The Botanic Garden, Or, Magazine of Flowering Plants, Volume 6, Simpkin & Marshall, page 115,
      Bletting is in particular a special alteration; it appears that the more austere a fruit is before this is brought on, the more it is capable of bletting regularly.
    • 2011, Mark Diacono, Fruit: River Cottage Handbook No.9, Bloomsbury Publishing, unnumbered page:
      You can also hasten the bletting process by giving firm medlars a night in the freezer. I usually pick some medlars early to blet a little indoors, as this is perfect for making jelly, whereas fully soft fruit is ideal for any other use.
    • 2021, Adele Nozedar, The Tree Forager, Watkins Media, unnumbered page:
      For example, you wouldn't be happy if you bit into a medlar. They need to be bletted (left to go over-ripe) before you can eat them but, once bletted, medlars taste sweet – a little bit like dates. […] To be frank, bletting is a more polite word for "rotting".
edit

Translations

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ John Lindley (1835) Introduction to Botany, page 296:
    After the period of ripeness, most fleshy fruits undergo a new kind of alteration; their flesh either rots or blets. […] May I be forgiven for coining a word to express that peculiar bruised appearance in some fruits, called blessi [sic] by the French, for which we have no equivalent English expression ?

    Emphasis and footnote in original, and though written as blessi, the French word for bletted is blette, and Lindley coined “blet”, suggesting an error in the text.

Anagrams

edit

Catalan

edit

Etymology

edit

Inherited from Latin blitum, from Ancient Greek βλίτον (blíton).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

blet m (plural blets)

  1. goosefoot

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

French

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

blet (feminine blette, masculine plural blets, feminine plural blettes)

  1. overripe

Further reading

edit

Lithuanian

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Russian блядь (bljadʹ).

Interjection

edit

blet

  1. (vulgar) used as filler or intensifier
    Ką tu padarei blet?
    What the fuck did you do?
    Žinojau, blet! Žinojau!
    I fucking knew this!

Usage notes

edit
  • Sometimes used in conjunction with kurva, a feature most likely unique to Lithuanian swearing.

Old French

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin bladum.

Noun

edit

blet oblique singular, m (oblique plural blez or bletz, nominative singular blez or bletz, nominative plural blet)

  1. wheat, corn

Descendants

edit
  • French: blé
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=blet&oldid=82081666"