different between wail vs bleat

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?l, IPA^(key): /we?l/, [we??]
• Rhymes: -e?l
• Homophone: wale
• Homophone: whale (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English w? (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wai.

The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14^th c.. The noun came from the verb.

Verb

wail (third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed)

1. (intransitive) To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
2. (intransitive) To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
3. (intransitive) To make a noise like mourning or crying.

4. (transitive) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
5. (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.

Derived terms

• bewail
• wailer
• wailingly

Translations

Noun

wail (plural wails)

1. A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish. [from 15^th c.]

2. Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.

3. A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.

Translations

References

Etymology 2

From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.

Verb

wail (third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”)
   • c. 1500, Robert Henryson, Template:The Testament of Cresseid

     Wailed wine and metes

References

• wail in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wail in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• wail at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• wali, wila, w?li

Asilulu

Noun

wail

1. water

References

• James T. Collins, The Historical Relationships of the Languages of Central Maluku, Indonesia (1983), page 70

Cebuano

Etymology

Blend of wala (“not”) +? ilhi (“known, recognized”)

Pronunciation

• (General Cebuano) IPA^(key): /?wa?il?/
• Rhymes: -il?
• Hyphenation: wa?il

Noun

wail

1. an insignificant person
2. an unknown person or thing
3. an unknown celebrity or politician

English

Alternative forms

• blate, blait (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English bleten, from Old English bl?tan (“to bleat”), from Proto-West Germanic *bl?tijan, from Proto-Germanic *bl?tijan? (“to bleat”). Cognate with Scots blete, bleit, West Frisian bâlte, blaaien, blêtsje (“to bleat”), Dutch blaten (“to bleat”), Low German bleten (“to bleat”), German blaßen, blässen (“to bleat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bli?t/
• Rhymes: -i?t

Noun

bleat (plural bleats)

1. The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat.

Synonyms

• (sheep's cry): baa, baaing, bleating

Translations

Verb

bleat (third-person singular simple present bleats, present participle bleating, simple past and past participle bleated)

1. Of a sheep or goat, to make its characteristic cry; of a human, to mimic this sound.
2. (informal, derogatory) Of a person, to complain.

   The last thing we need is to hear them bleating to us about organizational problems.

Synonyms

• (make the characteristic cry of a sheep or goat): baa
• (complain): kvetch (US), moan, whinge (UK), whine

Translations

Anagrams

• ablet, blate, table

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blautaz, whence also Old High German bl?z (“naked”), Old Norse blautr. More at blouse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blæ???t/

Adjective

bl?at

1. wretched

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: *blete, *bleet
  • Scots: bleat, blait, bleet

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian bl?t, from Proto-Germanic *blautaz.

Adjective

bleat

1. bare, naked
2. poor

Inflection

Further reading

• “bleat (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011