Etymology: ? < Old Norse flake, fleke weak masculine, hurdle, wicker shield (Danish flage hurdle), corresponding to Middle Dutch vlāke (feminine) (modern Dutch vlaak hurdle on which wool is beaten), Middle Low German and modern Low German flake sort of fishing net. The senses of the word seem to point to some root meaning to plait; a connection with Old Germanic *flehtan (= Latin plectĕre , < root *plek- ; compare Greek πλέκειν ) to plait, is suggested by the German synonym flechte (compare German käseflechte = cheese-flake in 2 below), but involves phonological difficulties. The Latin plăga net, is probably cognate.

Etymology: Of difficult etymology: possibly several distinct words have coalesced, though ultimate derivation from the Aryan root plāg- (compare Greek πληγνύναι to beat), parallel and synonymous with plāk- (compare Lithuanian plakù I beat) may plausibly account for all the senses, and also for the fact that most of these resemble senses belonging to flaw n.¹ or flaught n.¹, or to related words in other Germanic languages ( < Aryan root plak- ). Sense 1 has not been found earlier than Chaucer, though Junius cites an Old English ‘flacea ⁊ flæðra, flaws or flakes of snow’; it appears to be cognate with Old Norse flóke flock of wool, lock of hair, and perhaps with Old High German floccho of same meaning (if this be genuinely a Germanic word, representing a pre-Germanic *pləgnén- , and not an adoption of Latin floccus ); the Old English flacor , fluttering, has also been compared. The Danish flage , sneflage , usually cited as equivalent to English flake , perhaps corresponds rather to flaw n.¹ (Danish g representing Old Norse g as well as Old Norse k ); the Dansk Ordbog 1800 explains it as a large mass of falling snow, as opposed to flok which means a ‘flake’ in the English sense. The senses expressing the notion of ‘something peeled or split off’ may be compared with flay v. (Old Germanic *flah- < Old Aryan *plak-). There is possibly a third primary sense, ‘something flat’; compare Old High German flah adjective (modern German flach), Dutch vlak flat, Swedish flaka plate, Norwegian flak ice-floe. But the mutual relation of the English senses is very uncertain.

Etymology: Compare Dutch vlak blot, speck; also fleck n.¹

Etymology: ? < French flaque or Dutch vlacke (Kilian).

Etymology: Compare Old High German flec blow, stroke, also Dutch vlaag gust of wind, flaw n.²

Etymology: Compare fake n.¹, and German flechte of same meaning.

Etymology: Perhaps < flake n.²

Etymology: apparently a variant of Middle English wlak adj. < Old English wlæc.

Etymology: < flake n.²

Etymology: variant of flack v.¹, flag v.¹

Etymology: see flake n.⁶ and fake v.¹