英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

flavour [flavour 词源字典]: chiefly British English spelling of flavor; for spelling, see -or. Related: Flavoured; flavourful; flavouring.[flavour etymology, flavour origin, 英语词源]
flaw (n.): early 14c., "a flake" (of snow), also in Middle English "a spark of fire; a splinter," from Old Norse flaga "stone slab, layer of stone," perhaps used here in a wider sense (see flag (n.2)). Old English had floh stanes, but the Middle English form suggests a Scandinavian origin. "The close resemblance in sense between flaw and flake is noteworthy" [OED]. Sense of "defect, fault" first recorded 1580s, first of character, later (c. 1600) of material things; probably via notion of a "fragment" broken off.
flaw (v.): "cause a flaw or defect in," early 15c. (implied in flawed); see flaw (n.). Related: Flawing.
flawless (n.): 1640s, from flaw (n.) + -less. Related: Flawlessly; flawlessness. Flawful (1881) probably exists only as a jocular formation.
flax (n.): Old English fleax "flax plant; cloth made with flax, linen," from Proto-Germanic *flakhsan (cognates: Old Frisian flax, Middle Dutch and Dutch vlas, Old Saxon flas, Old High German flahs, German Flachs), probably from Proto-Germanic base *fleh- "to plait," corresponding to PIE *plek- "to weave, to plait" (see ply (v.1)). But some connect it with PIE *pleik- (see flay) from the notion of "stripping" fiber to prepare it.
flaxen (adj.): "made of flax," mid-15c., from flax + -en (2). As "of the color of flax" (usually with reference to hair) it is attested from 1520s.
flaxseed (n.): also flax-seed, 1560s, from flax + seed (n.).
flay (v.): Old English flean "to skin, to flay" (strong verb, past tense flog, past participle flagen), from Proto-Germanic *flahan (cognates: Middle Dutch vlaen, Old High German flahan, Old Norse fla), from PIE root *pl(e)ik-, *pleik- "to tear, rend" (cognates: Lithuanian plešiu "to tear"). Related: Flayed; flaying.
flea (n.): Old English flea "flea," from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (cognates: Old Norse flo, Middle Dutch vlo, German Floh), perhaps related to Old English fleon "to flee," with a notion of "the jumping parasite," but more likely from PIE *plou- "flea" (cognates: Latin pulex, Greek psylla; see puce).

Chaucer's plural is fleen. Flea-bag "bed" is from 1839; flea-circus is from 1886; flea-collar is from 1953. Flea-pit (1937) is an old colloquial name for a movie-house, or, as OED puts it, "an allegedly verminous place of public assembly."
"A man named 'Mueller' put on the first trained-flea circus in America at the old Stone and Austin museum in Boston nearly forty years ago. Another German named 'Auvershleg' had the first traveling flea circus in this country thirty years ago. In addition to fairs and museums, I get as high as $25 for a private exhibition." ["Professor" William Heckler, quoted in "Popular Mechanics," February 1928. Printed at the top of his programs were "Every action is visible to the naked eye" and "No danger of desertion."]
flea (v.): "clear of fleas," c. 1600, from flea (n.). Related: Flead.
flea market (n.): 1917, especially in reference to the marché aux puces in Paris, so-called "because there are so many second-hand articles sold of all kinds that they are believed to gather fleas." [E.S. Dougherty, "In Europe," 1922].
flea-bite (n.): mid-15c., figurative, "something that causes but slight pain," from flea (n.) + bite (n.). Related: Flea-bitten (1560s); flea-biting (verbal noun), 1550s.
fleabane (n.): also flea-bane, 1540s, from flea (n.) + bane (n.). Old English had fleawyrt, used of various plants supposed to destroy fleas.
fleam (n.): "sharp instrument for opening veins in bloodletting," late Old English, from Old French flieme (Modern French flamme), from Medieval Latin fletoma, from Late Latin flebotomus, from Greek phlebotomos "a lancet" (see phlebotomy).
fleck (v.): late 14c., "to spot, stain, cover with spots," probably from Old Norse flekka "to spot," from Proto-Germanic *flekk- (cognates: Middle Dutch vlecke, Old High German flec, German Fleck), from PIE *pleik- "to tear" (see flay). Related: Flecked; flecking.
fleck (n.): 1590s, "a mark on skin, a freckle," of uncertain origin; perhaps from fleck (v.) or else from a related word elsewhere in Germanic, such as Middle Dutch vlecke or Old Norse flekkr "a fleck, spot." From 1750 as "small particle," 1804 as "a patch, a spot" of any kind.
fled: past tense and past participle of flee (q.v.) and fly (v.2).
fledge (v.): "to acquire feathers," 1560s, from Old English adjective *-flycge (Kentish -flecge; in unfligge "featherless," glossing Latin implumes) "having the feathers developed, fit to fly," from Proto-Germanic *flugja- "ready to fly" (cognates: Middle Dutch vlugge, Low German flügge), from PIE *pleuk- "to fly" (see fletcher). Meaning "bring up a bird" (until it can fly on its own) is from 1580s. Related: Fledged; fledging.
fledged (adj.): "furnished with feathers," 1570s (in full-fledged), thus "developed, matured, able to fly;" past-participle adjective from fledge (v.).
fledgling: also fledgeling, 1830, "untried" (adj.), in Tennyson; 1846 as a noun meaning "young bird" (one newly fledged); from fledge + diminutive suffix -ling. Of persons, from 1856.