blanket

Pronunciation: /ˈblæŋ.kɪt/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun bedding that keeps a person warm in bed
  2. noun anything that covers
  3. noun a layer of lead surrounding the highly reactive core of a nuclear reactor

Etymology

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”)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

cover

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
bedclothes
Narrower (hyponyms)
mackinaw, security blanket, afghan, electric blanket, manta

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