flea

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

• beach flea
• chigoe flea
• deflea
• duck flea
• eight-spotted flea beetle
• fit as a flea
• flea allergy
• fleabag
• flea-bag
• flea beetle
• flea-bitten
• flea bomb
• flea-brained
• flea circus
• flea collar
• flea comb
• flea flicker
• flea in one's ear
• flealike
• flea-louse
• flea market
• fleapit
• flea powder
• flea-ridden
• flea shampoo
• flea tree
• hop flea
• human flea
• leaf flea
• sand flea
• snow flea
• water flea

 

Translations

parasitic insect

Abkhaz: аӡ (adz) Afrikaans: vlooi Albanian: plesht (sq) m Aghwan: please add this translation if you can Aklanon: please add this translation if you can 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 (čʼetʼ) Azerbaijani: birə (az) Bashkir: бөрсә (börsä) Basque: arkakuso Bats: ფსიკ (psiḳ) Belarusian: блыха́ f (blyxá) Bengali: উপমক্ষিকা (upmôkhika) Bikol Central: purgas Budukh: кӏид (kʼid) 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 Haitian Creole: pis Hawaiian: ʻuku 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 class 9/10, kĩroboto class 7 (large one) Korean: 벼룩 (ko) (byeoruk) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: كێچ‎ (ku) (كêç) Northern Kurdish: kêç (ku) Southern Kurdish: کەیک‎ (keyk) Kyrgyz: бүргө (ky) (bürgö) Lao: ໝັດ (mat) Latin: pūlex (la) m Latvian: blusa (lv) f Laz: მწკირი (mǯǩiri) 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 (noxoj böös) Nanai: сора Navajo: yaaʼ Neapolitan: pollece f 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: flēah m Old Norse: fló f Oromo: tafkii Ottoman Turkish: پیره‎ (pire), كیك‎ (keyk) 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 Romagnol: pólṣa f Romanian: purice (ro) m Romansch: pilesch, pelisch, pelesch, pülesch, pülsch Russian: блоха́ (ru) f (bloxá) S'gaw Karen: ကျံ (klee) Sanskrit: प्लुषि (sa) m (plúṣi) 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: tcha f, pcha f (archaic) Spanish: pulga (es) f Svan: ზჷსყ (zəsq̇) Swahili: kiroboto (sw) class 7/8 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 West Coast Bajau: please add this translation if you can Wolof: fel wi (wo) Yiddish: פֿלוי‎ m (floy) Yup'ik: keggerpak Yámana: šinuš Zazaki: kekı 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