blate

Meaning

Adjective

• Bashful, sheepish.
• Dull, stupid.

Origin

• From Scots blate ("timid, sheepish"), apparently a conflation of Northern *Middle English ("pale, ghastly, terrified"), from Old English blat ("pale, livid, ghastly"), from Proto-West Germanic *blait ("pale, discoloured"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyd- ("pale, pallid") and Middle English bleth, bleath, from Old English blēaþ ("gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate"), from Proto-Germanic *blauþuz ("weak, timid, void, naked"). Cognate with German blassen ("to make pale"), bleich. More at bleak, bleach.