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PlainSpell

bleat

/ˈbliːt/noun, verb

bleat is spelled B-L-E-A-T: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 82,325th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bleat means “The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bleat is bleats.

How many letters and syllables are in bleat?

Letters5: B-L-E-A-T
In writingabout once in every 8 million words; the 82,325th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bleat?

Bleat appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 82,325th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce bleat?

  • /ˈbliːt/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bleat.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bleat?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bleat.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: table, belta.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bleat

  • bleats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • blate
  • blait
  • bleating participle, present
  • bleated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bleat mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The characteristic cry of a sheep or a goat.

verb

  1. 1

    Of a sheep, goat, or calf: to make its characteristic cry; of a human, to mimic this sound.

    Near-synonym: baa (sheep and goat)

  2. 2

    derogatoryinformalOf a person, to complain.

    Near-synonyms: kvetch, moan, whinge, whine, holler

  3. 3

    derogatoryinformalOf a person, to say things of little importance to the listener.

    Near-synonyms: drone on, go on

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bleat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbêlement, béguètement (cry of a sheep or a goat), bêler, bégueter, chevroter (to make the cry of a sheep or goat), rouspéter (informal: to complain)
GermanBlöken (cry of a sheep or a goat), blöken (to make the cry of a sheep or goat)
Portuguesebalido (cry of a sheep or a goat), balir (to make the cry of a sheep or goat)
Spanishbalido (cry of a sheep or a goat), balar (to make the cry of a sheep or goat)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bleat come from?

From Middle English bleten, from Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”), from Proto-West Germanic *blātijan, from Proto-Germanic *blētijaną (“to bleat”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to howl, cry, bleat”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to make a loud noise”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bleat