sleet

sleet

English

A small amount of slush can be produced from a mixture of rain and snow

Etymology

From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)).[1] The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliːt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːt

Noun

sleet (countable and uncountable, plural sleets)

1. (chiefly US) Pellets of ice made of mostly frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.

   Synonym: ice pellets

2. (chiefly UK, Ireland, New England) Precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.
3. (rare) A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain.

   Synonyms: black ice, glaze

4. (firearms) Part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.

Translations

ice pellets

Bulgarian: сугра́шица (bg) f (sugrášica) Dutch: ijsregen (nl) m Finnish: jäärae (pellet of ice) French: grésil (fr) m German: Eiskorn (de) n Hungarian: jégdara, fagyott eső Italian: gragnola f Middle English: frost Portuguese: grão de gelo m Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f Sicilian: grànnula (scn) f Spanish: perdigón de hielo m

precipitation of rain–snow mixture

Albanian: sqotë (sq) Aragonese: auguanieu (an) f Aromanian: jigãrditsã Catalan: aiguaneu f Chinese: Mandarin: 凍雨／冻雨 (zh) (dòngyǔ), 霰 (zh) (xiàn), 雨夾雪／雨夹雪 (zh) (yǔjiāxuě), 雨雪 (zh) (yùxuě) Czech: plískanice (cs) f Danish: slud (da) n Dutch: sneeuwregen m, natte sneeuw f Finnish: räntä (fi), räntäsade Georgian: თოვლჭყაპი (tovlč̣q̇aṗi) German: Schneeregen (de) m Hungarian: havas eső Icelandic: slydda f, kraparigning f, bleytukafald n Ido: greleto (io) Irish: flichshneachta (ga) Italian: pioggia mista a neve f, acquaneve f (informal) Japanese: 氷雨 (ja) (ひさめ, hisame) Korean: 진눈깨비 (ko) (jinnunkkaebi) Luxembourgish: Schnéireen m Macedonian: лапавица f (lapavica) Maori: waiwaha, tarahī huka Middle English: slete Norman: verglias m Norwegian: Bokmål: sludd (no) n Nynorsk: sludd n Polish: deszcz ze śniegiem m Portuguese: água-neve (pt) f Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f Russian: мо́крый снег m (mókryj sneg), дождь со сне́гом (doždʹ so snégom), ледяно́й дождь m (ledjanój doždʹ) Sicilian: nivarra f Spanish: aguanieve (es) f Swedish: slask (sv) n, snöblandat regn n, snöglopp n Turkish: sulu sepken (tr), kargın (tr) Welsh: eirlaw m

glaze ice formed by freezing rain

Bulgarian: поледица f (poledica) Catalan: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: 凍雨／冻雨 (zh) (dòngyǔ), 霰 (zh) (xiàn), 雨夾雪／雨夹雪 (zh) (yǔjiāxuě), 雨雪 (zh) (yùxuě) Dutch: ijzel (nl) Finnish: jäätävä sade, jäätävä tihku French: please add this translation if you can Georgian: თოვლჭყაპი (tovlč̣q̇aṗi) German: Eisregen (de) m Hungarian: ónos eső Icelandic: ískorn n, ísing (is) f Ido: greleto (io) Italian: vetrone m Japanese: 霙 (ja) (みぞれ, mizore) Korean: 진눈깨비 (ko) (jinnunkkaebi) Latvian: krusa (lv) Maori: waiwaha Navajo: níló yázhí Norman: né fondue f Persian: برف‌باران‎ Polish: marznący deszcz (pl) m Portuguese: gelo negro m Romanian: lapoviță (ro) f, fleșcăială (ro) f Russian: мо́крый снег m (mókryj sneg), дождь со сне́гом (doždʹ so snégom), ледяно́й дождь m (ledjanój doždʹ), крупа́ (ru) f (krupá) Scottish Gaelic: flin m Serbo-Croatian: Roman: susnežica (sh) f Sicilian: jilata f Slovene: sodra f Spanish: please add this translation if you can Welsh: eirlaw m

See also

• freezing rain
• graupel

References

• Sleet in Encyclopedia Britannica

Verb

sleet (third-person singular simple present sleets, present participle sleeting, simple past and past participle sleeted)

1. (impersonal, of the weather) To be in a state in which sleet is falling.

   I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting.

   • 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 38:

     It was dark, it was cold, it was sleeting - dreadful conditions for driving... perfect conditions for an accident.

Translations

to be in a state in which sleet is falling

Aragonese: auguanebar (an) Cimbrian: brüskalan Dutch: gijzelen (nl) Finnish: sataa räntää French: grésiller (fr) Icelandic: setja niður slyddu, vera slydda Ido: greletar (io) Norwegian: sluddvær n Portuguese: granizar (pt) Romanian: lapovița (ro) Sicilian: nivarrijari Welsh: bwrw eirlaw

References

1. Skeat (in German) considers the English word “sleet” to be a loanword from Scandinavia and cites the Norwegian word “sletta.”

Further reading

• sleet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sleet in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• AMS Glossary of Meteorology

Anagrams

• Leets, Steel, Teels, Teles, leets, steel, stele, stelè, stélé, teles

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sleːt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːt

Noun

sleet c (uncountable)

1. (chiefly Belgium) wear

Synonyms

• slijtage

Verb

sleet

1. singular past indicative of slijten
2. second- and third-person singular present indicative of sleeën
3. (archaic) plural imperative of sleeën

Anagrams

• leest, slete, steel, stele

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Middle English

Noun

sleet

1. Alternative form of slete