flea

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A tiny jumping insect that bites animals and people and feeds on their blood.

   The dog kept scratching because of fleas.

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”).

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