# flea
## English
### Etymology 1

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 or akin to 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: /fliː/
* Audio (US):(file)
   * Rhymes: -iː
* Homophones: flee

#### Noun

flea (plural fleas or (archaic or UK dialectal) fleen)
* A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
* (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

* antiflea
* beach flea
* beflea
* chigoe flea
* deflea
* dog-flea model
* duck flea
* eight-spotted flea beetle
* fit as a flea
* flea allergy
* flea-bag
* fleabag
* fleabane
* flea beetle
* fleabite
* flea-bitten
* fleabitten
* flea bomb
* fleaborne
* fleabrain
* flea-brained
* flea circus
* flea collar
* flea comb
* flea flicker
* flea in one's ear
* flealike
* flea-louse
* flea market
* fleapit
* flea powder
* flea-powder
* fleaproof
* flea-ridden
* flea shampoo
* fleasome
* flea tree
* fleaweed
* fleawort
* hop flea
* house flea
* human flea
* leaf flea
* sandflea
* sand flea
* snow flea
* water flea

##### Translations

Abkhaz: аӡ (adz)
Afrikaans: vlooi
Aghwan: please add this translation if you can
Aklanon: please add this translation if you can
Albanian: plesht (sq) m
Amis: 'atimla^, 'atimela
Arabic: بُرْغُوث m (burḡūṯ)
Egyptian Arabic: برغوت m (barḡūt)
Aramaic :
Classical Syriac: ܦܘܪܬܥܢܐ m (purtaʿnā)
Aragonese: pulz
Armenian: լու (hy) (lu)
Aromanian: puric m
Asturian: pulga (ast) f
Avar: чӏетӏ (čʼetʼ)
Azerbaijani: birə (az)
Bashkir: бөрсә (börsə)
Basque: arkakuso
Bats: ფსიკ (psiḳ)
Belarusian: блыха́ f (blyxá)
Bengali: উপমক্ষিকা (upomokkhika)
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)
Hokkien: 虼蚤 (zh-min-nan) (ka-cháu)
Mandarin: 蚤 (zh) (zǎo), 跳蚤 (zh) (tiàozǎo), 虼蚤 (zh) (gèzǎo)
Classical Nahuatl: tecpin
Crimean Tatar: bürçe
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)
Ingrian: kerppu
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 (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
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
Malayalam: ചെള്ള് (ml) (ceḷḷŭ)
Maltese: bergħud m
Manchu: ᠰᡠᡵᠠᠨ (suran)
Manx: jargan m
Mingrelian: წყირი (c̣q̇iri)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: бүүрэг (mn) (büüreg), нохой бөөс (noxoj böös) (dog flea)
Nanai: сора (sora)
Navajo: yaaʼ
Neapolitan: pollece f
Northern Ohlone: pó̄r
Norwegian:
Bokmål: loppe m or f
Nynorsk: loppe f
Occitan: piuse (oc) 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: pchla 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
Tabasaran: чӏуд (č̣ud)
Tagalog: pulgas, hanip (chicken flea)
Tajik: кайк (tg) (kayk)
Talysh: kek
Tamil: தெள்ளு (ta) (teḷḷu), செள்ளு (ta) (ceḷḷu), தெள்கு (ta) (teḷku)
Taos: phìayána
Tarifit: šurdu m
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)
Venetan: pulç, pulxo, polxe, pulexe, pułexe, pułega
Vietnamese: bọ chét (vi)
Vilamovian: fłuch m
Volapük: flib (vo), hiflib (male), jiflib (female)
Welsh: chwain f pl
West Coast Bajau: please add this translation if you can
Woiwurrung: moon-ong
Wolof: fel wi (wo)
Yakut: былахы (bılaqı)
Yámana: šinuš
Yiddish: פֿלוי m (floy)
Yup'ik: keggerpak
Zazaki: kekı
Zhuang: maet :

### See also

* jumping bristletails, archaeognathans (Archaeognatha)
* cockroaches and termites, blattodeans (Blattodea)
* beetles, coleopterans (Coleoptera)
* earwigs, dermapterans (Dermaptera)
* flies, dipterans (Diptera)
* webspinners, embiopterans (Embioptera)
* mayflies, ephemeropterans (Ephemeroptera)
* ice crawlers, grylloblattodeans (Grylloblattodea)
* true bugs, hemipterans (Hemiptera)
* hymenopterans (ants, bees, wasps, etc.) (Hymenoptera)
* butterflies and moths, lepidopterans (Lepidoptera)
* mantises, mantodeans (Mantodea)
* mantophasmids (Mantophasmatodea)
* scorpionflies, mecopterans (Mecoptera)
* megalopterans (alderflies, dobsonflies, fishflies, etc.) (Megaloptera)
* neuropterans (antlions, lacewings, mantisflies, etc.) (Neuroptera)
* damselflies and dragonflies, odonatans (Odonata)
* orthopterans (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, etc.) (Orthoptera)
* stick insects, phasmatodeans (Phasmatodea)
* stoneflies, plecopterans (Plecoptera)
* booklice, psocodeans (Psocodea)
* snakeflies, raphidiopterans (Raphidioptera)
* fleas, siphonapterans (Siphonaptera)
* strepsipterans (Strepsiptera)
* thrips, thysanopterans (Thysanoptera)
* caddis flies, trichopterans (Trichoptera)
* zorapterans (Zoraptera)
* silverfish, zygentomans (Zygentoma)

#### Verb

flea (third-person singular simple present fleas, present participle fleaing, simple past and past participle fleaed or flead)
* (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)
* Obsolete spelling of flay.
** 1605, Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Everyman's Library, published 1991, page 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: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

## Old English
### Noun

flēa m
* Alternative form of flēah