blat

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See also: Blat, blât, blåt, and блат

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Imitative. First attested in 1846 in the intransitive sense of "bleat". Compare English bleat, Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”).

Verb

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blat (third-person singular simple present blats, present participle blatting, simple past and past participle blatted)

  1. (intransitive) To cry, as a calf or sheep; bleat.
  2. (intransitive) To make a senseless noise.
    • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
      A moment later the engine roared into life. Exhaust blatted through the straight-pipes; people stopped on the street to look.
  3. To talk inconsiderately; blab.
  4. To produce an overrich or overblown sound on a brass instrument such as a trumpet, trombone, or tuba.
  5. (transitive) To utter loudly or foolishly; blurt.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from Russian блат (blat), from Polish blat (“cover, umbrella”) or Yiddish בלאַט (blat, “leaf, list”). Doublet of blade.

Noun

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blat (uncountable)

  1. The Soviet system of connections and social relationships; one's social or business network (in Russian or Soviet society).
    Synonym: (from Chinese) guanxi
    To open a new business in Russia you need blat.
    • 1998, Alena V. Ledeneva, Russia's Economy of Favours. Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange, University of London, →ISBN, [Marketing description of that book hardly written by the author]:
      Alena Ledeneva's book is the first to analyse blat in all its historical, socio-economic and cultural aspects, and to explore its implications for post-Soviet society. In a socialist distribution system which resulted in constant shortages, blat developed into an 'economy of favours' which shadowed an overcontrolling centre and represented the reaction of ordinary people to the social constraints they faced.
    • 2003, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (Bigend cycle; book 1), New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 180:
      “We call her that but really it’s more post-Soviet. She's the blat girl.”
      “The what?”
      “Blat. What the old boys in your country called juice, I think. She's connected, Marina is.
    • 2005, Adam Czarnota, Martin Krygier, Wojciech Sadurski, Rethinking the Rule of Law After Communism, page 334:
      The bribe caused the inflation of the social capital defined as blat. Monetarization of social relations led to the inflation of the social investments that the ordinary citizen has put in their blat networks. Only blat networks of the powerful survived […]
    • 2006, Alena V. Ledeneva, How Russia Really Works. The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business (Culture and Society after Socialism), Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 2:
      I argue that just as blat was an essential type of know-how of Soviet socialism, these postsocialist informal practices represent the “know-how” of post-Soviet Russia.
    • 2017, Joseph S. Berliner, "Blat", in David Twichell, The shallow stratigraphy and sand resources offshore of the Mississippi bar, age 326:
      The distinction between the use of blat for personal enrichment and for smoothing the work of the enterprise was emphasized in the interview testimony. […] The supply agent, for example, often has large quantities of money at his disposal for arranging his blat, much of which he might use for himself but which he devotes instead to making deals of advantage to the enterprise.
    • 2017, EASO Country of Origin Information Report. Russian Federation. State Actors of Protection‎[1], →DOI, →ISBN, archived from the original on 5 June 2021, page 32:
      Semukhina and Reynolds mention underlying reasons for the widespread corruption: pre-Soviet and Soviet practices (especially the system of blat(191), which continued in the wake of the breakdown of the Soviet Union), institutional factors within the police (e.g. highly militarised structure, lack of accountability), a weak civil society, economic causes (maximising income and minimising risks) and a culture of ‘disrespect for the law’(192).
Translations
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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Early Medieval Latin bladum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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blat m (uncountable)

  1. wheat

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Franco-Provençal

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Noun

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blat (Forézien)

  1. Alternative form of blât (“wheat”)

References

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Maltese

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Etymology

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From Arabic بَلَاط (balāṭ, “tiles, paved surface”), eventually from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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blat m (collective, singulative blata, plural blajjet or blejjet, paucal blatiet)

  1. rock (material, a mass or surface of it)
    • Traditional (lyrics and music), “Ja ħanina”, performed by Frans Baldacchino:
      Fuq il-blata ġej u sejjer, fuq il-blata nerġa’ mmur.
      Għax hemmhekk għandi namrata, u xxejjirli bil-maktur.
      Ħanina, nitolbok ħaġa: Islifli ftit il-maktur!
      Dawk in-nies ma jkunux jafu, ’l ommok ma ngħidilhiex żgur.
      To the rock I come and go, on the rock I always walk,
      For I have my sweetheart there, and she waves to me with a handkerchief.
      Darling, one thing I ask of you: Lend me that handkerchief a while!
      Those people won’t even know, and I sure won’t tell your mum.
    • 1949, Anton Buttigieg, “Il-Ġebla tal-Ġeneral”, in Fanali bil-Lejl:
      u lili firdu minn mal-art għal dejjem,
      u jien sfajt blata u gżira l-aktar ċkejkna,
      bi ftit faqqiegħ u ftit gremxul sewdieni
      ngħix ħajja waħdi.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Middle Dutch

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Etymology

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From Old Dutch *blat, from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą.

Noun

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blat n

  1. leaf
  2. page (of a book)
  3. panel (in a door)
  4. tongue, blade
  5. any flat surface or object

Inflection

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This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

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  • Dutch: blad
    • Afrikaans: blad (“page”), blaar (“leaf”)
  • Limburgish: blaad

Further reading

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Occitan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Early Medieval Latin bladum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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blat m (plural blats)

  1. wheat

Old English

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *blait, from Proto-Germanic *blaitaz. Cognate with Old High German bleizza (“stain, blue, livor”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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blāt (comparative blātra, superlative blātast, adverb blāte)

  1. pale, livid, ghastly

Declension

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Declension of blāt — Strong
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blāt blāt blāt
Accusative blātne blāte blāt
Genitive blātes blātre blātes
Dative blātum blātre blātum
Instrumental blāte blātre blāte
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blāte blāta, blāte blāt
Accusative blāte blāta, blāte blāt
Genitive blātra blātra blātra
Dative blātum blātum blātum
Instrumental blātum blātum blātum
Declension of blāt — Weak
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blāta blāte blāte
Accusative blātan blātan blāte
Genitive blātan blātan blātan
Dative blātan blātan blātan
Instrumental blātan blātan blātan
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative blātan blātan blātan
Accusative blātan blātan blātan
Genitive blātra, blātena blātra, blātena blātra, blātena
Dative blātum blātum blātum
Instrumental blātum blātum blātum

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Old High German

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, whence also Old Saxon blad, Old English blæd, Old Norse blað. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃oto-, from *bʰleh₃-.

Noun

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blat n (plural bletir)

  1. leaf

Descendants

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Polish

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blat

Etymology

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Borrowed from German Blatt.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈblat/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -at
  • Syllabification: blat

Noun

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blat m inan (diminutive blacik)

  1. counter, countertop, tabletop, top (top surface area of a piece of furniture)

Declension

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Declension of blat
singular plural
nominative blat blaty
genitive blatu blatów
dative blatowi blatom
accusative blat blaty
instrumental blatem blatami
locative blacie blatach
vocative blacie blaty

Collocations

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Collocations
  • cienki blat ― a thin counter
  • długi blat ― a long counter
  • duży blat ― a big counter
  • gruby blat ― a thick counter
  • lakierowany blat ― a varnished counter
  • lśniący blat ― a shiny counter
  • okrągły blat ― a round counter
  • szeroki blat ― a wide counter
  • blaszany blat ― a tin counter
  • dębowy blat ― an oak counter
  • drewniany blat/blat z drewna ― a wooden counter
  • marmurowy blat/blat z marmuru ― a marble counter
  • metalowy blat ― a metal counter
  • szklany blat/blat ze szkła ― a glass counter
  • barowy blat/blat baru ― a bar counter
  • kuchenny blat ― a kitchen counter
  • podręczny blat ― a portable counter
  • składany blat ― a folding counter
  • solidny blat ― a solid counter
  • blat grzewczy ― a heated counter
  • blat roboczy ― a worktop
  • blat biurka ― a desktop
  • blat kredensu ― a cupboard top
  • blat lady ― a countertop
  • blat ławki/ławy ― a benchtop
  • blat sekretarzyka ― a writing desktop
  • blat stolika/stołu ― a tabletop
  • blat szafek ― a cabinet top
  • blat toaletki ― a vanity table counter
  • blat do krojenia ― a cutting counter
  • blat do nauki ― a learning counter
  • blat do pisania ― a wirting counter
  • blat do pracy ― a work counter
  • blat od stołów ― a counter for tables
  • blat ― a wooden counter
  • blat ze stali ― a steel counter
  • blat o jakiejś szerokości ― a counter of a certain width
  • blat w kształcie czegoś ― a counter in the shape of something
  • blat w kuchni ― a counter in the kitchen
  • krawędź blatu ― the edge of a counter
  • płaszczyzna/powierzchnia blatu ― the surface of a counter
  • szerokość blatu ― the width of a counter
  • wysokość blatu ― the height of a counter
  • odległość między blatem (a czymś) ― the distance between a counter and something
  • stół z blatem ― a table with a counter
  • oparty o blat ― leaned against a counter
  • pochylony nad blatem ― bent over a counter
  • ukryty pod blatem ― hidden under a counter
  • przecierać blat ― to wipe a counter
  • wytrzeć blat ― to wipe down a counter
  • coś leży na blacie ― something is on a counter
  • kłaść/położyć coś na blacie ― to put on a counter
  • postawić coś na blacie ― to set on a counter

Further reading

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  • blat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • blat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from German Blatt, from Middle High German blat, plat, from Old High German blat, from Proto-West Germanic *blad (“leaf”), from Proto-Germanic *bladą (“leaf”); akin to Low German Blatt, Dutch blad, English blade, Danish and Swedish blad. Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek φύλλον (phúllon), Latin folium.

Noun

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blat n (plural blaturi)

  1. (cooking) sheet, layer
Declension
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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative blat blatul blaturi blaturile
genitive-dative blat blatului blaturi blaturilor
vocative blatule blaturilor

Etymology 2

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Borrowed from Russian блат (blat, “cronyism”), from Polish blat (“the flat surface of a table”) or Yiddish בלאַט (blat), from German Blatt, from Middle High German blat, plat, from Old High German blat, from Proto-West Germanic *blad (“leaf”), from Proto-Germanic *bladą (“leaf”).

Noun

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blat n (plural blaturi)

  1. (slang) illegal activity, particularly travelling on a train without a ticket.
  2. (soccer) match fixing
Declension
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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative blat blatul blaturi blaturile
genitive-dative blat blatului blaturi blaturilor
vocative blatule blaturilor
Derived terms
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