Barefoot Meaning
/ˈbɛɹfʊt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjWearing nothing on the feet.
adjOf a vehicle on an icy road: not using snow chains.
Sentence Examples
Shoemakers' children go barefoot.
He was so startled that he ran outside barefoot.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The children ran happily ____ across the warm sandy beach this morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children were running ____ on the soft green grass in the park today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English barefote, barfot, from Old English bærfōt (“barefoot”), from Proto-West Germanic *baʀafōt, from Proto-Germanic *bazafōts (“barefoot”) equivalent to bare + foot. Cognate with Scots barefit (“barefoot”), Old Frisian berfōt ("barefoot"; modern Saterland Frisian boarfouts (“barefoot”, adverb)), Dutch barrevoets (“barefoot”, adverb), German barfuß (“barefoot”), Danish barfodet (“barefoot”), Swedish barfota (“barefoot”, adverb), Icelandic berfættur (“barefoot”), Yiddish באָרוועס (borves, “barefoot”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[L]ike Hedg-hogs vvhich / Lye tumbling in my bare-foote vvay, and mount / Their pricks at my foot-fall: ſometime am I / All vvound vvith Adders, vvho vvith clouen tongues / Doe hiſſe me into madneſſe: […]"
— 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 9, column 1:
"It was firm enough to walk on, but Bradly took off his boots to preserve the leather from sea-water, and for the pleasure of barefoot walking on cool sand."
— 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 60:
"Ignoring the familiar discomfort, he padded barefoot across the thick white carpet toward the heavy curtains that lined the richly appointed bedroom’s wide transparisteel window."
— 2007, Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin, Star Trek: Enterprise: The Good That Men Do:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The children ran happily ____ across the warm sandy beach this morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children were running ____ on the soft green grass in the park today.