"F" Word Origins

flounderish

Origin

From flounder (“act clumsily (verb)”) + -ish.

flour

Origin · 1800

Originally just a spelling variant of "flower" — flour was seen as the "flower," or finest part, of ground grain. The two words split apart in spelling around the early 1800s.

flourish

Latin

From Old French florir, "to flower," ultimately from Latin florere ("to bloom"), the same root behind "flower" and "florid."

flout

Origin

Perhaps from Middle English flouten (“to play the flute”); compare with Dutch fluiten.

flow

Old English · 1975

From Old English flowan ("to flow"). The psychological sense of total, effortless focus was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.

flower

Latin

From Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin florem, related to Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "to bloom." A doublet of "flour," since both trace back to the same idea of the "finest part" of something.

flowerpot

Origin

A simple compound of "flower" and "pot," first used for containers made specifically to hold potted plants.

flowery

Origin

From "flower" plus the adjectival suffix "-y."

flowing

Origin

From "flow" plus the "-ing" suffix.

flown

Old English

From Old English flogen, the past participle of fleogan ("to fly").

Floyd

Welsh

Anglicisation of the Welsh name Lloyd, from Welsh llwyd (“grey, grey-haired”).

flu

Italian

A shortened form of "influenza," itself borrowed from Italian.

flub

Origin

Possibly suggested by fluff and flop. First appeared in the US as a verb c. 1924, and as a noun c. 1953.

fluctuate

Latin

From Latin fluctuat-, fluctuare 'to undulate', from fluctus 'wave', from fluere 'to flow'.

fluctuation

Latin

From Latin fluctuatio, from fluctuare ("to move like waves"), from fluctus ("wave").

flue

Old English

Origin uncertain, first recorded in Middle English; possibly linked to an Old English word for "flow."

fluency

Origin

From Late Latin fluentia, equivalent to fluent + -cy. Cognate with French fluence.

fluent

Latin

From Latin fluens, "flowing," the present participle of fluere ("to flow").

fluff

Origin

Traced back to an earlier word meaning "woolly down or nap," of uncertain ultimate origin, possibly related to a West Flemish dialect word.

fluffy

Origin

From "fluff" plus the "-y" suffix.

fluid

Latin

From Latin fluidus, "flowing," from fluere ("to flow"). Despite the resemblance, it is not directly related to the native English word "flow."

fluidity

Origin

Borrowed from French fluidité.

fluidness

Origin

From fluid + -ness.

fluke

Origin

Of uncertain origin, but first recorded as slang for a lucky, unplanned shot in billiards.

fluminous

Origin

From oblique stem of Latin flūmen, flūminis + -ous.

flummery

Origin

Borrowed from Welsh llymru (“a sour jelly derived from boiled oatmeal”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to llymrig (“slippery”). For phonetic development, compare origin of Floyd.

flummox

Origin

Uncertain, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily. [OED]. First use appears c. 1837 in the writings of Charles Dickens.

flummoxed

Origin

From flummox + -ed.

flump

Origin

Onomatopoeic. Compare plunk.

flunk

Origin

Likely an alteration of "funk," possibly blended with "flinch."

fluorescent

Origin

From "fluoresce" plus "-ent," ultimately tracing back to the mineral fluorite, which was noted for glowing under certain light.

fluoride

Origin

From "fluorine" plus the chemical suffix "-ide," used for compounds formed with another element.

fluorophore

Origin

From fluoro- + -phore.

flurry

Origin

Likely an American blend of "flutter" and "hurry."

flush

Middle English

Of uncertain origin, first recorded in Middle English; possibly related to "flash" or a blend of "flow" and "gush."

flushing

Middle English

From Middle English flusshyng, flusshynge, equivalent to flush + -ing.

fluster

Origin

The verb is probably from Middle English *flostren (implied in flostring, flostrynge (“agitation; blustering”)) from a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language; compare Icelandic flaustra (“to bustle”), flaustr (“a bustle; a hurry”). Compare Old English flustrian (“to weave, plait, braid”). The noun is derived from the verb.

flute

Latin

From Old French flaute, of uncertain deeper origin, possibly linked to Latin flatus ("blowing") or simply imitative of the sound.

flutter

Old English

From Old English floterian, "to float about, flutter," related to the word "float."

flux

Latin

From Old French flux, from Latin fluxus ("flow").

fluxive

Origin

From flux + -ive.

fly

Old English

From Old English flēoge ("a fly"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to fly," ultimately traced to a Proto-Indo-European word with the same meaning.

flyboy

Origin

A simple compound of "fly" and "boy."

flyer

Origin

From "fly" plus the agent suffix "-er."

flying

Old English

From Old English fleogende, the present participle of fleogan ("to fly").

Flynn

Irish

Anglicized from Irish Ó Floinn, "descendant of Flann (red)".

Flynt

Middle English

From Middle English flynt.

flyover

Origin

Formed from the phrasal verb "fly over" turned into a single noun.