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Added 6 October 2026

ate

/eɪt/ symbol

Categories: PeopleEveryday Words

symbol Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. ISO 639-3 language code for Atemble.

verb

  1. simple past of eat
  2. past participle of eat

noun

  1. An elder sister
  2. A respectful title or form of address for an older woman.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: tookdownedconundrumerodedtatconsumedcorrodedfedhadkilledatseta

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