Baaed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To produce the characteristic cry of a sheep or goat ; to imitate the bleating sound made by such animals ; to emit a prolonged, wavering vocal sound resembling that of livestock
2. To vocalize in the manner typical of sheep or goats ; to utter a bleat-like noise similar to that produced by these animals ; to express a plaintive call reminiscent of pastoral creatures
3. To sound like the bleating of sheep or goats ; to make the distinctive call associated with these animals ; to give forth a quavering, animal-like cry typical of cloven-hoofed livestock

Etymology: "Baaed" is the past tense of "baa", and the verb is pure sound-mimicry: the cry of a sheep was rendered as a syllable that its listeners could hear in the animal's voice. German has the same kind of word in "bäh" and "mäh", which suggests the imitation is not peculiar to English speakers but an instinct shared across languages. The more surprising story is what has happened to the vowel. Early Modern English spellings such as "bae" and "bea" show that the word was once pronounced with a vowel closer to the one in "bat" (roughly /bæː/). During the 18th and 19th centuries that vowel shifted toward the open "ah" sound we hear today, so the spoken word moved away from the spelling people had used for it. Modern English has a parallel case in "meow", which replaced the older "mew" and now hides the sound it was meant to copy.

Synonyms: bleated, cried, lamented, called