ate
/eɪt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.34 in modern English
3
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
simple past of eat
noun
A respectful title or form of address for an older woman.
Example Sentences
- "I have a very good appetite, have ate some excellent melons, and they have served me up some quails, the fattest and tenderest I have ever ate."
- "As soon as all had ate, and the elder ones paid, the carriage was ordered; […]"
- "The emotionless […] led the way into a large dining-room furnished with the severe simplicity of an apartment which is meant to be ate in, but never lived in; and at top of a table which would have accommodated eighteen persons Robert beheld Mr. Harcourt Talboys."
- "“Haven't ate all the eggs, I hope? For I be hungry as a hunter[…]"
- "So I'd have ate when me Dad had ate, sort of thing, I think, you know when he come home from work, I'd have waited for him, I wouldn't have said I wanted mine at four o'clock[…]"
Etymology
Probably a remodelling of earlier eat by analogy with other strong verbs such as break:†brake, give:gave, speak:†spake; compare the same process in rare Middle English at (“ate”) besides more usual et. However, the pronunciation /ɛt/ likely continues Middle English et, from Old English ǣt, from Proto-West Germanic *āt, from Proto-Germanic *ēt, with shortening as in e.g. thread.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: et, ǣt, *āt, *ēt, 阿姊
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /eɪt/
- British English: /eɪt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
et (alternative, informal)
ates (plural)