vlei

• vley, vly

From Afrikaans vlei, from vallei (“valley”).

• (General South African) IPA^(key): /fleɪ/, /fliː/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /fleɪ/, /vlʌɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /vli/, /fli/, /fleɪ/

vlei (plural vleis)

1. (Southern Africa) A shallow wetlands or minor lake, generally a seasonal one, or the lowland where such a wetlands appears seasonally.
   • 1861, Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami, chapter XXV, page 301

     The country thereabout was a succession of vleys or gulleys, then filled with excellent clear water, teeming with water-fowl.

   • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther 1974, p. 59:

     She remembered the pleasurable warm smell of the cow droppings […] as if the four-divided stomachs of the great oxen were filled with nothing but concentrated memories of hours of grazing along the water heavy vleis.

   • 2010, Jeremiah Allen, Namibia (Other Places Travel Guide), page 199

     Although rare, it takes an unearthly amount of rain to fill the Tsauchab River and penetrate the dune area, bringing water into the vlei. During these rare times, the vlei takes on a life of its own, much different than in the absence of water […]

2. (US regional) A wetland or marsh.

• vlei rat

• Levi, Viel, evil, live, veil, vile

From Dutch vallei (“valley”).

vlei (plural vleie)

1. marsh, wetlands, vlei

From Dutch vleien.

vlei (present vlei, present participle vleiende, past participle gevlei)

1. flatter, coax, wheedle

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛi̯

vlei

1. first-person singular present indicative of vleien
2. imperative of vleien

• veil, viel