blade

Meaning

Noun

1. The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
2. (metonymically) The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
3. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
4. The flat functional end or piece of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, chisel, screwdriver, skate, etc.
5. The narrow leaf of a grass or cereal.
6. The thin, flat part of a plant leaf, attached to a stem (petiole).
7. A flat bone, especially the shoulder blade.
8. A cut of beef from near the shoulder blade (part of the chuck).
9. The part of the tongue just behind the tip, used to make laminal consonants.
10. A piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.
11. A throw characterized by a tight parabolic trajectory due to a steep lateral attitude.
12. The rudder, daggerboard, or centerboard of a vessel.
13. A bulldozer or surface-grading machine with mechanically adjustable blade that is nominally perpendicular to the forward motion of the vehicle.
14. (dated) A dashing young man.
15. (US, slang) A homosexual, usually male.
16. (US, slang) An area of a city which is commonly known for prostitution.
17. Thin plate, foil.
18. One of a series of small plates that make up the aperture or the shutter of a camera.
19. (in-plural) The principal rafters of a roof.
20. The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.
21. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of blade server.
22. Synonym of knifeblade.
23. An exterior product of vectors. (The product may have more than two factors. Also, a scalar counts as a 0-blade, a vector as a 1-blade; an exterior product of k vectors may be called a k-blade.)
24. The part of a key that is inserted into the lock.
25. (informal) An artificial foot used by amputee athletes, shaped like an upside-down question mark.
26. (uncountable) The quality of singing with a pure, resonant sound; especially of a countertenor.

Verb

1. (informal) To skate on rollerblades.
2. (transitive) To furnish with a blade.
3. (intransitive, poetic) To put forth or have a blade.
4. (transitive) To stab with a blade
5. (slang, transitive) To cut a person (usually oneself) so as to provoke bleeding.

Synonyms

edge

sword

leaf

knife

🔪

vane

razor blade

cutting edge

paddle

razor

🪒

foil

steel

leaf blade

lamina

culm

fin

shoulder

rapier

sprout

pinion

tooth

🦷

brand

cleaver

chin

border

drawknife

dagger

🗡️

drawshave

carryall

ell

epee

cutting egde

insert

carrier

bit

annexe

cutting

cutter

cane

grader

gem

💎

cutlass

folium

guillotine

halm

hand

✋

hogback

folio

interior

broadsword

axis

Translations

lame

Klinge

hoja

lama

lâmina

blad

λεπίδα

cuchilla

🔪

Blatt

lemmet

feuille

pale

kling

شفرة

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bleɪd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: blade

Inherited from Old English: blæd

Cognate with Western Frisian: bled

Cognate with Dutch: blad

Cognate with German: Blatt

Cognate with Danish: blad

Cognate with Irish: bláth

Cognate with Welsh: blodyn

Cognate with Tokharian A: pält

Cognate with Tokharian B: pilta

Cognate with Albanian: fletë

In summary

From Middle English blade, blad, from Old English blæd (“leaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃-o-to-m, from *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”).
See also West Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt, Danish blad, Irish bláth (“flower”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Tocharian A pält, Tocharian B pilta (“leaf”), Albanian fletë (“leaf”). Similar usage in German Sägeblatt (“saw blade”, literally “saw leaf”). Doublet of blat. More at blow.