flick

The word “flick” means a quick, light movement, often with the fingers or wrist. In plain terms, a short, snappy movement (flick of the wrist), or casual slang for a movie.

“Flick” is pronounced flihk (/flɪk/ in IPA).

Here is “flick” used in a sentence: “With a flick of her wrist, she sent the card sailing across the table.”

Depending on how it is used, “flick” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “flick” comes from Middle English. From Middle English flykke, describing a light quick blow. The film sense comes from early movies visibly flickering due to low frame rates.

“Flick” is an uncommon word in modern English, usually learned at around the C1 level.

“Flick” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a quick, light movement, often with the fingers or wrist.

"Flick" describes a quick, light movement, often with the fingers or wrist, such as flicking a switch, while "flip" often implies turning something over or reversing it, such as flipping a coin or a page. Flick suggests speed and lightness; flip suggests rotation.

"Flick" is informal slang for a movie, likely tracing back to the flickering appearance of early film projections. It's casual usage, as in "let's watch a flick tonight," and would not be used in formal writing.

"Flick" is informal in both its sense of a quick movement, used casually in everyday speech, and especially in its slang meaning of a movie, which is chiefly colloquial. Formal writing would use "movie" or "film" instead.