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Added 9 October 2026

flake

/fleɪk/ noun

In Latin: floccus Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about flake at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A crystal of snow.
A person with an unusual or odd personality.
A small fragment of something broken off from the whole.
a bit of rock caught him in the eye

verb

Form into flakes.
The substances started to flake
Cover with flakes or as if with flakes.
Come off in flakes or thin small pieces.
The paint in my house is peeling off

Origin

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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