Standard Lemma guide

fleam

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /fliːm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːm

1

noun

Meaning 1

A sharp instrument used to open a vein, to lance gums, or the like.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1831-1850, William Youatt, On the Structure and the Diseases of the Horse A bloodstick - a piece of hard wood loaded at one end with lead — is used to strike the fleam into the vein

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The watercourse or runoff from a mill; millstream

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, UK, dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A large trench or gully cut into a meadow in order to drain it

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, UK, dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English fleme, fleom, from Old French flieme, flemie (“open vein”), probably via a Proto-Germanic source (compare Old Saxon flēma, Old High German fliotuma, fliodema, Old English flȳtme (“fleam, lancet”)), borrowed from Vulgar Latin fletoma, *fletomus, from Late Latin flebotomus, phlebotomus, from Ancient Greek φλεβοτόμον (phlebotómon). Compare French flamme, Dutch vlijm, German Fliete, Danish flitte (“fleam”). Doublet of phlebotome.

From Middle English fleem, flem (“the rushing of water; current”), probably from Old English flēam (“fleeing; flight; rush”), from Proto-Germanic *flaumaz (“stream; current; flood”), from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to fly; flow; run”). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk flaum (“flood”).

Across languages

Translations

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: ланцет (lancet) — medical instrument
  • Greek: φλεβοτόμος (flevotómos) — medical instrument
  • Ottoman Turkish: نیشتر (nişter, neşter) — medical instrument
  • Ottoman Turkish: مفصد (mifsad) — medical instrument