flea

See also: fleá

English

Etymology 1

False colors scanning electron micrograph of a flea.

From Middle English fle, from Old English flēah, flēa, from Proto-West Germanic *flauh, 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

• IPA^(key): /fliː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

• Homophones: flee

Noun

flea (plural fleas)

1. A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
2. (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

• deflea
• duck flea
• flea allergy
• fleabag
• flea-bitten
• flea circus
• flea collar
• flea comb
• flealike
• flea market
• fleapit
• flea powder
• flea-ridden
• flea shampoo
• sand flea
• water flea

 

Translations

parasitic insect

• Abkhaz: аӡ (aʒ)
• Afrikaans: vlooi
• Albanian: plesht (sq) m
• Amis: 'atimla^, 'atimela
• Arabic: بُرْغُوث‎ m (burḡūṯ)

  Egyptian Arabic: برغوت‎ m (barḡūt)

• Aragonese: pulz
• Armenian: լու (hy) (lu)
• Aromanian: puric
• Asturian: pulga (ast) f
• Avar: чӏетӏ (č̣eṭ)
• Azerbaijani: birə (az)
• Bashkir: бөрсә (börsä)
• Basque: arkakuso
• Bats: ფსიკ (psiḳ)
• Belarusian: блыха́ f (blyxá)
• Bengali: উপমক্ষিকা (upmôkkhika)
• Bikol Central: purgas
• Budukh: кӏид (ḳid)
• Bulgarian: бълха́ (bg) f (bǎlhá)
• Burmese: လှေး (my) (hle:), အလှေး (my) (a.hle:)
• Catalan: puça (ca) f
• Chechen: сагал (sagal)
• Chepang: य्‍हुङः
• Cherokee: ᏣᏑᎦ (tsasuga), ᏧᎦ (tsuga)
• 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
• Drung: svli
• Dutch: vlo (nl) f
• Egyptian: (py m)
• 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
• Galician: pulga (gl) f
• Georgian: რწყილი (rc̣q̇ili)
• German: Floh (de) m, Flohmännchen n (male), Flohweibchen n (female)
• Greek: ψύλλος (el) m (psýllos)

  Ancient: ψύλλη f (psúllē), 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
• Ilocano: timel
• Indonesian: pinjal (id)
• Ingush: сагал (sagal)
• Interlingua: pulice
• 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
• Kanakanabu: 'atiimua
• Kazakh: бүрге (kk) (bürge)
• Khmer: ចៃ (km) (cay), ដង្កែ (km) (dɑngkae), អំបាត (km) (ʼɑmbaat)
• Kikuyu: thuya 9 or 10, kĩroboto 7 (large one)
• Korean: 벼룩 (ko) (byeoruk)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: كێچ‎ (ku) (كêç)

  Northern Kurdish: kêç (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: کەیک‎ (keyk)

• Kyrgyz: бүргө (ky) (bürğö)
• Lao: ໝັດ (mat)
• Latin: pūlex (la) m
• Latvian: blusa (lv) f
• Laz: მწკირი (mc̣ḳiri)
• Lezgi: чӏут (č̣ut)

• Lithuanian: blusa (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Flou (lb) f
• Macedonian: болва f (bolva)
• Malagasy: parasy (mg)
• Malay: pinjal
• Maltese: bergħud m
• Manchu: ᠰᡠᡵᠠᠨ (suran)
• Manx: jargan m
• Mingrelian: წყირი (c̣q̇iri)
• Mongolian: нохой бөөс (nokhoi böös)
• Nanai: сора
• Navajo: yaaʼ
• Northern Ohlone: pó̄r
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: loppe m or f

  Nynorsk: loppe f

• Occitan: piusa f
• Ojibwe: babig
• 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
• Oromo: tafkii
• Pashto: ورږه‎ f (wrə́ẓa)
• Persian: کک‎ (fa) (kak), کیک‎ (fa) (kayk)
• Plautdietsch: Hupsflieej f
• 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, бу̀ха 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) 7 or 8
• Swedish: loppa (sv) c
• Tagalog: pulgas, hanip (chicken flea)
• Tajik: кайк (tg) (kayk)
• Tamil: தெள்ளு (ta) (teḷḷu), செள்ளு (ta) (ceḷḷu), தெள்கு (ta) (teḷku)
• 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 (male), jiflib (female)
• Welsh: chwannen f, chwain f pl
• Wolof: fel wi (wo)
• Yiddish: פֿלוי‎ m (floy)
• Yup'ik: keggerpak
• Yámana: šinuš
• Zazaki: keki
• Zhuang: maet

Verb

flea (third-person singular simple present fleas, present participle fleaing, simple past and past participle fleaed)

1. (transitive) To remove fleas from (an animal).

   Synonym: deflea

   • 1861, Horace William Wheelwright, Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist (page 192)

     I have seen a Lubra, or native woman, suckling two puppies; and, like monkeys, these ladies have a particular fancy for fleaing their dogs.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms.

Verb

flea (third-person singular simple present fleas, present participle fleaing, simple past and past participle flead)

1. Obsolete spelling of flay
   • 1605, Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Everyman's Library 1991, p. 36:

     […] he'd flea me alive like another St Bartholomew.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar […], OCLC 928184292:

     In this Thwackum had the advantage; for while Square could only scarify the poor lad's reputation, he could flea his skin […]

Anagrams

• Lafe, Leaf, alef, feal, leaf