"F" Word Origins

flintstone

Middle English

From Middle English flynt ston, simply combining "flint" and "stone."

flip

Origin

An alteration of the older word fillip, describing a snap of the fingers or thumb.

flippant

Origin

From a Northern English dialect word meaning "prattling, glib," related to the older sense of "flip" meaning to babble.

flipper

Origin

From flip + the agent suffix -er.

flirt

Germanic · 1500

From 16th-century English words meaning "to flick" or "to mock," of uncertain and likely onomatopoeic Germanic origin.

flirtation

Origin

From flirt + the noun-forming suffix -ation.

flirtatious

Origin

From flirtation + the adjective-forming suffix -ous.

flirty

Origin

From flirt + the adjective suffix -y.

flit

Middle English

From Middle English flitten, borrowed from Old Norse flytja ("to move"), ultimately from a root meaning "to flow" or "run."

flite

Origin

From Middle English flit, from Old English flit, ġeflit (“strife, contention”), from Proto-West Germanic *flit. The Old English term had a short vowel, so the modern term must have had its vowel leveled in from the verb at some point in its history. Cognate with Scots flyte (“scolding, chiding, reproof”), Saterland Frisian Fliet (“zeal, diligence”), Dutch vlijt (“zeal, diligence”), German Low German Fliet (“zeal, diligence”), German Fleiß (“zeal, diligence”), Danish flid (“zeal, diligence”), Swedish flit (“zeal, diligence”).

flitter

Origin

From Middle English flytteren, frequentative form of flitten, flytten, flütten, possibly from Old Norse flytja (“to carry about, convey”), equivalent to flit + -er (frequentative suffix).

flitting

Origin

From flit + the suffix -ing.

float

Old English

From Old English flotian ("to float"), from a Germanic root related to flow and fleet.

floater

Origin

From float + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). Compare Old English flota (“boat, ship", also "sailor, pirate”, literally “floater”), whence Middle English flote (“a fleet of ships", also, "a float, flotation device”).

floating

Origin

By surface analysis, float + -ing.

flock

Old English

From Old English flocc ("crowd, troop"), a Germanic word also seen in Danish and Swedish flock.

flocked

Origin

From flock, meaning tufts of wool or fibre.

flog

Origin · 1600

Origin uncertain, recorded in English since the 1600s; possibly linked to an old word meaning "to beat."

flogger

Origin

From flog + -er. Compare Low German flogger (“a flail”).

flood

Old English

From Old English flōd, from a Germanic root meaning "to flow" — related to flow, fleet, and flow itself.

floodgate

Origin

From Middle English flodegate, flodgate, flodeyate, floodȝate, flodȝete, equivalent to flood + gate.

floodplain

Origin

From flood + plain.

floor

Old English

From Old English flōr ("floor, pavement"), from a Germanic root going back to a Proto-Indo-European word for "flat."

floorboard

Origin

From floor + board.

flooring

Middle English

From Middle English floring, related to floor.

floorshow

Origin

From floor (“primary area”) + show (“entertainment, performance”).

floozie

Origin

Corruption of flossy in the sense of showy.

flop

Origin · 1600

Recorded since the early 1600s, likely a heavier-sounding variant of flap.

flophouse

Origin

From flop + house, originally hobo slang for a cheap place to sleep.

floppy

Origin

From flop + the adjective suffix -y.

FLOPS

Origin

An acronym for "floating-point operations per second."

flor

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish flor ("flower"), related to English "flower" and "flour."

flora

Latin

From Latin Flōra, the Roman goddess of flowers.

floral

Latin

From Latin flōrālis, from flōs ("flower").

Florence

Latin

Borrowed from French Florence f, from Latin Flōrentia (as a given name, a feminine form of Flōrentius), from flōrens (“flowering, flourishing”), from flōs (“flower”), connected with English bloom and blossom. Doublet of Firenze. The female given name gained popularity from Florence Nightingale who was born in the Tuscan city.

florentine

Latin

Borrowed from French florentin, ultimately from the Latin name for Florence.

Flores

Portuguese

From Portuguese Flores, from flores (“flowers”).

florescence

Origin

From Latin florēscō, from flōreō (“to bloom, flower”) + -ēscō, from flōs (“flower”), from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“flower, blossom”), from *bʰel- (“to bloom”), as if through the form flōrēscentia.

floresville

Origin

From Flores + -ville, named after the Flores de Abrego family.

Florian

Latin

From Latin "florus," meaning "flowering."

florilegium

Origin

Borrowed from Renaissance Latin flōrilegium, calque of Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, “flower-gathering”) (compare English anthology), so called because flowers were used as symbols of the finer sensibility of literature.

florin

Origin

From Middle English florin, floren, from Old French florin, from Italian fiorino (“little flower”). Doublet of fiorino and forint.

florist

Latin

From French fleuriste, ultimately from Latin flōs ("flower").

floss

Old French

Origin unclear, possibly from an Old French word for soft, fluffy wool or down.

Flossie

Origin

Probably linked to "flossy," meaning showy or overly soft, and possibly influenced by Flossie as a nickname for Florence or Flora.

flotilla

Origin

From Spanish flotilla, diminutive of flota (“fleet”), from French flotte.

flotsam

Latin

From Anglo-Norman floteson, ultimately related to float, with a Latin-derived ending.

flounder

Middle English

From Middle English flowndre, ultimately from Old Norse flyðra, the name of the fish.