Fleen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An old, sharp surgical instrument with a small blade once used to open veins for bloodletting
2. A narrow lancet formerly employed by barbers and surgeons to puncture a vein and draw blood
3. A pointed blade of earlier medical practice, used to cut into a vein so blood could be released

Etymology: "Fleen" is the plural of "flea" in a form that survived in Middle English as "flen," an older plural formed with the "-en" ending, which was once common in English alongside "-s." Words like "oxen," "children," and "brethren" preserve the same pattern, though only a handful of such plurals survived into modern English. "Flen" was the regular plural form in the Middle English period, and the "-en" ending had been widely used for nouns before the "-s" plural spread through the language. The word "flea" is itself inherited from Old English, where the plural was "flēo." Over the medieval period, English speakers added the "-en" plural to this noun, producing "flen," which then became "fleen" in some dialects and spellings. Because the word had already developed a different plural, "fleas," the "fleen" form fell out of common use, though it lingers in older texts and occasionally in poetic or dialectal writing.