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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

blanket.

A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually large and woollen, used for warmth while sleeping or resting.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈblæŋ.kɪt/[ˈblæŋ.kʰɪt]/ˈbleɪ̯ŋ.kɪt/[ˈbleɪ̯ŋ.kʰɪt] ~ /ˈblɛ̃ŋ.kɪt/
  1. A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually large and woollen, used for warmth while sleeping or resting.

    The baby was cold, so his mother put a blanket over him.
  2. A covering layer of anything.

    The city woke under a thick blanket of fog.
  3. A thick rubber mat used in the offset printing process to transfer ink from the plate to the paper being printed.

    A press operator must carefully wash the blanket whenever changing a plate.
  4. A streak or layer of blubber in whales.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English blanket, blonket, blaunket, from Old Northern French blanket, blancet (“white horse", also "white woollen cloth or flannel; a type of jacket”, literally “that which is white”) (whence Modern French blanchet), diminutive of blanc (“white”), of Germanic origin (compare Old English blanca (“white horse”); see more at blank). Furthermore, the sense "white woollen cloth" is likely a calque of Old English hwītel (“blanket; cloak, mantle”), from Old English hwīt (“white”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare also Old Norse hvítill (“a white bed-cover, sheet”), Norwegian kvitel (“blanket”). Compare also blunket, plunket. Displaced native Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (whence Modern English whittle (“blanket, cloak, shawl”)).

adj/ˈblæŋ.kɪt/[ˈblæŋ.kʰɪt]/ˈbleɪ̯ŋ.kɪt/[ˈbleɪ̯ŋ.kʰɪt] ~ /ˈblɛ̃ŋ.kɪt/
  1. General; covering or encompassing everything.

    attributive · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English blanket, blonket, blaunket, from Old Northern French blanket, blancet (“white horse", also "white woollen cloth or flannel; a type of jacket”, literally “that which is white”) (whence Modern French blanchet), diminutive of blanc (“white”), of Germanic origin (compare Old English blanca (“white horse”); see more at blank). Furthermore, the sense "white woollen cloth" is likely a calque of Old English hwītel (“blanket; cloak, mantle”), from Old English hwīt (“white”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare also Old Norse hvítill (“a white bed-cover, sheet”), Norwegian kvitel (“blanket”). Compare also blunket, plunket. Displaced native Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (whence Modern English whittle (“blanket, cloak, shawl”)).

verb/ˈblæŋ.kɪt/[ˈblæŋ.kʰɪt]/ˈbleɪ̯ŋ.kɪt/[ˈbleɪ̯ŋ.kʰɪt] ~ /ˈblɛ̃ŋ.kɪt/
  1. To cover with, or as if with, a blanket.

    attributive · transitive
    A fresh layer of snow blanketed the area.
  2. To traverse or complete thoroughly.

    attributive · transitive
    The salesman blanketed the entire neighborhood.
  3. To toss in a blanket by way of punishment.

    attributive · transitive
  4. To take the wind out of the sails of (another vessel) by sailing to windward of it.

    attributive · transitive
  5. To nullify the impact of (someone or something).

    attributive · transitive
  6. Of a radio signal: to override or block out another radio signal.

    attributive
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English blanket, blonket, blaunket, from Old Northern French blanket, blancet (“white horse", also "white woollen cloth or flannel; a type of jacket”, literally “that which is white”) (whence Modern French blanchet), diminutive of blanc (“white”), of Germanic origin (compare Old English blanca (“white horse”); see more at blank). Furthermore, the sense "white woollen cloth" is likely a calque of Old English hwītel (“blanket; cloak, mantle”), from Old English hwīt (“white”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare also Old Norse hvítill (“a white bed-cover, sheet”), Norwegian kvitel (“blanket”). Compare also blunket, plunket. Displaced native Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (whence Modern English whittle (“blanket, cloak, shawl”)).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.