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Added 9 October 2026

blanket

/ˈblæŋ.kɪt/ noun

In Latin: lōdix, strātum Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about blanket at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Bedding that keeps a person warm in bed.
he pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep
Anything that covers.
there was a blanket of snow
A layer of lead surrounding the highly reactive core of a nuclear reactor.

verb

Cover as if with a blanket.
snow blanketed the fields
Form a blanket-like cover (over).

adjective

Broad in scope or content.
across-the-board pay increases

Origin

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.

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

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