• Blet

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /blÉ›t/

    Origin

    French blettir.

    Coined by John Lindley, in his Introduction to Botany (1835), p. 296:

    “After the period of ripeness, most fleshy fruits undergo a new kind of alteration; their flesh either rots or blets.

    …

    * May I be forgiven for coining a word to express that peculiar bruised appearance in some fruits, called blessi sic by the French, for which we have no equivalent English expression ?”

    Emphasis and footnote in original, and though written as blessi, the French word for bletted is blette, and Lindley coined “blet”, suggesting an error in the text.

    Full definition of blet

    Verb

    1. To undergo bletting, a fermentation process in certain fruit beyond ripening.

    Related terms

    Anagrams

    © Wiktionary