Standard Lemma guide

oat

noun · prep_phrase · 9 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈəʊt/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɵ̞ʊt/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈoʊ̯t/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈɔʊ̯t/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈoːt/ monophthongization
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈəʉ̯t/
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈɐ̝ʉ̯t/
  • rhymes with -əʊt
  • homophone: ot-
  • CMU ARPABET: OW1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Widely cultivated cereal grass, typically Avena sativa.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • The oat stalks made good straw.
  • The main forms of oat are meal and bran.
  • World trade in oat is increasing.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of the numerous species, varieties, or cultivars of any of several similar grain plants in genus Avena.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • The wild red oat is thought to be the ancestor of modern food oats.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The seeds of the oat, a grain, harvested as a food crop and for animal feed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A simple musical pipe made of oat-straw.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The tiniest amount; a whit or jot.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

prep_phrase

Meaning 6

Alternative letter-case form of OAT.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

prep_phrase

Meaning 7

Initialism of of all time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Internet, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as `oats')

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: grain, food grain, cereal

9

noun

Meaning 9

annual grass of Europe and North Africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cereal, cereal grass

Narrower terms: cereal oat, Avena sativa, wild oat, wild oat grass, Avena fatua, slender wild oat, Avena barbata, wild red oat, animated oat, Avene sterilis

History

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ote, from Old English āte, from Proto-West Germanic *aitā, from Proto-Germanic *aitǭ (“swelling; gland; nodule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h1eyd- (“to swell”). See English atter (“poison”). Cognates * Germanic: cognate with Scots ait (“oat”), West Frisian oat (“wild oat”), Dutch oot, aat (“wild oat”), Saterland Frisian Aate (“pea”), German Low German Aat (“oat”), obsolete Luxembourgish Otz (“oat”). Further related to Icelandic eitill (“nodule”), Norwegian Bokmål eitel (“knot, gland”), Norwegian Nynorsk eitel (“knot, gland”), Old High German eiz (“abscess”) (German Eiter (“pus”), Eiß (“ulcer”)), Dutch etter (“pus”), Saterland Frisian eitel (“fast, raging”), Old Norse eitill (“nodule”) * Indo-European: Latin aemidus (“swollen, protuberant”), Old Church Slavonic ꙗдъ (jadŭ, “poison”), Ancient Greek οἰδέω (oidéō, “to swell”), Albanian ënjt (“to swell, inflame”), Old Armenian այտնում (aytnum, “to swell”), այտ (ayt, “cheek”), Sanskrit इन्दु (índu, “water drop”)

Across languages

Translations

135 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: haver — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Albanian: tërshërë — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Arabic: شُوفَان (šūfān) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Arabic: خَرْطَال (ḵarṭāl) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Arabic: شوفان (šōfān) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Arabic: خرطال (ḵarṭāl) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Archi: нихӏу (niḥru) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Armenian: վարսակ (varsak) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Aromanian: uvedz — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Aromanian: vromi — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Avar: неха (nexa) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Azerbaijani: yulaf — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Bashkir: һоло (holo) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Basque: olo — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Belarusian: авёс (avjós) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Bengali: জই (joi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Bulgarian: ове́с (ovés) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Burmese: မြင်းစားဂျုံ (mrang:ca:gyum) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Catalan: civada — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Chinese Cantonese: 燕麥 /燕麦 (jin3 mak6) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Chinese Mandarin: 燕麥 /燕麦 (yànmài) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Chuvash: сӗлӗ (sĕlĕ) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Cornish: kergh — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Corsican: vena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Czech: oves — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Dalmatian: vun — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Danish: havre — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Dutch: haver — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Esperanto: aveno — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Estonian: kaer — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Faroese: havri — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Finnish: kaura — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • French: avoine — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • West-Frisian: hjouwer — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • West-Frisian: iete — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Friulian: vene — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Galician: avea — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Georgian: შვრია (švria) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • German: Hafer — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • German: Haber — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Greek: βρόμη (vrómi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Greek: βρώμη (vrómi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Ancient Greek: βρόμος (brómos) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Hindi: जई (jaī) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Hungarian: zab — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Icelandic: hafri — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Irish: coirce — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Italian: avena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Japanese: 烏麦 (karasumugi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Japanese: カラスムギ (karasumugi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Japanese: 燕麦 (enbaku) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Japanese: オートムギ (ōtomugi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Kalmyk: суль (sulʹ) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Kazakh: сұлы (sūly) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Khmer: អាវ័ន (aavoan) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Korean: 귀리 (gwiri) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Kyrgyz: сулу (sulu) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Lao: ເຂົ້າມ້າ (khao mā) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Latgalian: auzys — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Latin: avēna — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Latvian: auzas — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Lithuanian: aviža — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Livonian: kaggõrz — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Low German: Haver — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Macedonian: овес (oves) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Malay: oat — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Malay: haver — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Maltese: ħafur — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Northern Mansi: о̄вас (ōvas) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Manx: corkey — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Mongolian: овъёос (ovʺjoos) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Nanai: муди (muʒi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Navajo: tłʼoh nanoolʼołí — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Norman: avaine — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Norwegian Bokmål: havre — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: havre — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Occitan: civada — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Southern Ohlone: huunuSmin — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Old Norse: hafri — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Persian: یولاف (yulâf) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Persian: شوفان (šufân) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Persian: جو دوسر (jov-e dosar) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Picard: avin·ne — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Piedmontese: biava — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Polish: owies — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Portuguese: aveia — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Punjabi: ਜਵੀ (javī) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Romagnol: véna — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Romanian: ovăz — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Romansh: avaina — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Romansh: aveina — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Romansh: avagna — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Russian: овёс (ovjós) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Northern Sami: hávvar — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sardinian: aena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sardinian: avena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sardinian: auena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sardinian: ena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sardinian: oena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Scottish Gaelic: coirce — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Serbo-Croatian: зоб — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Serbo-Croatian: овас — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Serbo-Croatian: zob — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Serbo-Croatian: ovas — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sicilian: aina — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Sicilian: avina — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Slovak: ovos — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Slovene: oves — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Spanish: avena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Swedish: havre — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tagalog: abena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tagalog: obena — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tajik: ҷави русӣ (jav-i rusi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tamil: காடைக்கண்ணி (kāṭaikkaṇṇi) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tashelhit: ⵡⴰⵥⴽⴽⵓⵏ (waẓkkun) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tatar: солы (solı) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Thai: ข้าวโอ๊ต (kâao-óot) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Thai: โอ๊ต (óot) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Tibetan: ཡུག་པོ (yug po) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Turkish: yulaf — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Ottoman Turkish: یولاف (yulaf) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Turkmen: süle — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Ukrainian: ове́с (ovés) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Urdu: جئی (jaī) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Uyghur: سۈلۈ (sülü) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Uzbek: suli — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Venetan: véna — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Vietnamese: yến mạch — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Volapük: vaen — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Volapük: zab — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Walloon: avoenne — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Welsh: ceirchen — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Welsh: ceirch — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Yakut: эбиэс (ebies) — widely cultivated cereal grass
  • Yiddish: האָבער (hober) — widely cultivated cereal grass