suckle

English

A mother suckling an infant (painting by Mosè Bianchi)

Etymology

From Middle English sukelen; probably a back-formation of Middle English sukeling (“a suckling; infant”), formally equivalent to suck +‎ -le (frequentative suffix). See suckling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌk.əl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌkəl

Noun

suckle (plural suckles)

1. (obsolete) A teat.
   • 1638, Thomas Herbert, “Travels begun Anno 1626”, in Some yeares travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique‎^[1], London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, Book 1, p. 26:

     […] the body of this fish [the Mannatee] is commonly 3 yards long and one broad, slow in swimming, wanting fins, in their place ayded with 2 paps which are not only suckles but stilts to creep a shoare upon such time she grazes […]

2. An act of suckling

   The baby was having a suckle at its mother's breast.

Verb

suckle (third-person singular simple present suckles, present participle suckling, simple past and past participle suckled)

1. (transitive) To give suck to; to nurse at the breast, udder, or dugs.
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     […] the breasts of Hecuba
     When she did suckle Hector, looked not lovelier
     Than Hector’s forehead when it spit forth blood
     At Grecian sword, contemning.

   • 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “The Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 35:

     Let us indulge them; they are not weak, suckled by Wisdom, taught to walk by Virtue.

   • 1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 21:

     A relief of a goat suckling her young.

2. (intransitive) To nurse; to suck milk from a nursing mother.
   • 1931, Pearl S. Buck, chapter 4, in The Good Earth‎^[2], New York: Modern Library, published 1944, page 35:

     But out of the woman’s great brown breast the milk gushed forth for the child, milk as white as snow, and when the child suckled at one breast it flowed like a fountain from the other, and she let it flow.

3. (transitive) To nurse from (a breast, nursing mother, etc.).
   • 1982, Bernard Malamud, God’s Grace, New York: Avon, published 1983, page 60:

     Buz attempted to suckle his left nipple.

   • 1997, Ridley Pearson, Beyond Recognition‎^[3], New York: Hyperion, page 129:

     She opened her eyes slightly, like a person drugged—dreamy and quiet. The baby suckled her.

Derived terms

• suckled, unsuckled
• suckler
• suckling
• suckly

Translations

to give suck to

• Arabic: رَضَّعَ (raḍḍaʕa)

  Egyptian Arabic: رضع (raḍaʕ)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Aromanian: alãptedz
• Bulgarian: кърмя (bg) (kǎrmja)
• Catalan: alletar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 餵奶／喂奶 (zh) (wèinǎi), 哺乳 (zh) (bǔrǔ), 母乳餵養／母乳喂养 (zh) (mǔrǔ wèiyǎng)

• Czech: kojit (cs)
• Dutch: zogen (nl)
• Esperanto: mamnutri
• Finnish: imettää (fi)
• French: allaiter (fr) (transitive)
• Friulian: latâ
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: stillen (de), säugen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌰𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (daddjan)
• Greek: θηλάζω (el) (thilázo)

  Ancient: θηλάζω (thēlázō)

• Hebrew: הֵינִיק (he) (hēníq)
• Hungarian: szoptat (hu)
• Ido: alaktar (io), mamsugar
• Indonesian: menyusui (id)
• Irish: tál
• Italian: allattare (it)
• Japanese: 授乳する (ja) (じゅにゅうする, junyū suru)
• Khmer: បំបៅ (km) (bɑmbaw)
• Ladino: alechar
• Latin: nūtriō
• Latvian: zīdīt
• Macedonian: дои (doi)
• Maori: whakangotengote, whakangote
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: alachar (oc), alaitar (oc), far popar, atessar
• Old Church Slavonic: доити (doiti)
• Polish: karmić mlekiem, wykarmić
• Portuguese: amamentar (pt)
• Romani: chuchi del
• Romanian: alăpta (ro)
• Russian: корми́ть гру́дью impf (kormítʹ grúdʹju), вска́рмливать (ru) impf (vskármlivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: до̀јити

  Roman: dòjiti (sh)

• Spanish: amamantar (es)
• Swedish: amma (sv), dia (sv), dägga (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: emzirmek (tr), meme vermek (tr)
• Vietnamese: mút (vi), bú (vi)
• Volapük: sügön (vo), nimafön
• Yiddish: זייגן (zeygn)

to nurse; to suck

• Arabic: رَضِعَ (raḍiʕa)
• Bulgarian: бозая (bg) (bozaja)
• Dutch: zuigen (nl)
• Finnish: imeä (fi)
• French: téter (fr)
• German: saugen (de)
• Greek: θηλάζω (el) (thilázo), βυζαίνω (el) (vyzaíno)

  Ancient: θηλάζω (thēlázō)

• Hebrew: יָנַק (he) (yanáq)
• Indonesian: menyusu (id)
• Irish: diúl
• Italian: poppare (it)
• Latin: nūtriō
• Latvian: zīst
• Macedonian: дои (doi)
• Maori: whāngote
• Occitan: mamar, popar (oc)
• Old Irish: ibid
• Portuguese: mamar (pt)
• Romanian: suge (ro)
• Russian: соса́ть грудь (sosátʹ grudʹ)
• Spanish: mamar (es)
• Swedish: dia (sv)
• Volapük: sugön (vo)

Anagrams

• Leucks, Luckes, Luecks

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsuklə/

Verb

suckle

1. to suck

Conjugation

Regular
infinitive	suckle
participle	gesuckeld
auxiliary	hon
	present indicative	imperative
ich	suckle	—
du	suckelst	suckel
er/sie/es	suckeld	—
meer	suckle	—
deer	suckeld	suckeld
sie	suckle	—
The use of the present participle is uncommon, but can be made with the suffix -end.

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary