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flea

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

flee
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfli

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap

  2. A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.

verb

  1. transitive

    To remove fleas from (an animal).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap

Used this way, flea is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use flea

  • “The dog was scratching because it had a flea on its ear.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Wingless / small

flea beetlecat flea

Other combinations

flea marketrat fleawater fleahuman fleaflea bitedog flea

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • flea bitenounCompound term

    Sting inflicted by a flea.

  • flea marketnounCompound term

    An open-air street market for inexpensive or secondhand articles.

  • flea beetlenounCompound term

    Any small leaf beetle having enlarged hind legs and capable of jumping.

  • cat fleanounCompound term

    Flea that breeds chiefly on cats and dogs and rats.

  • chigoe fleanounCompound term

    Small tropical flea.

  • dog fleanounCompound term

    Flea that attacks dogs and cats.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.