Bloated

How to spell bloated

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bloated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bloated mean?

1. adjectiveSwollen or distended with gas, liquid, or excess, often in an uncomfortable or unhealthy way.

Bloated in a sentence

• After the heavy meal she felt uncomfortably bloated all evening.

• The bloated sacks of grain had soaked up water from the leaking pipe.

Where does bloated come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The word grows out of the verb 'bloat', which in turn descends from an older English adjective 'blote' meaning 'soft', 'flabby', or 'soaked'. This is generally traced back to the Old Norse 'blautr', meaning 'soft' or 'wet', a word that travelled into English during the period of Norse settlement. In the 1600s 'bloat' came to describe fish that had been softened and swollen by being soaked in brine and then smoked, which is the origin of the term 'bloater' for a cured herring. From that sense of being puffed up with liquid or gas the modern meaning spread easily to swollen stomachs, swollen pride, and overgrown budgets. The spelling keeps the 'oa' vowel pair from the long 'o' sound, the same pattern seen in 'float' and 'goat', which is the main thing to remember when writing it.

How the word is built

• bloat (root: to swell, puff up)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)