Flake Definition

flāk
flaked, flakes, flaking
noun
flakes
A thin piece or layer split off or peeled off from anything; chip.
Webster's New World
A stone fragment removed from a core or from another flake by percussion or pressure, serving as a preform or as a tool or blade itself.
American Heritage
A small, thin mass.
A flake of snow.
Webster's New World
An eccentric, unbalanced, or irrational person.
Webster's New World
A small crystalline bit of snow.
American Heritage
verb
flaked, flakes, flaking
To form into flakes.
Webster's New World
To chip or peel off in flakes.
Webster's New World
To make or become spotted with flakes.
Webster's New World
To come off in flat thin pieces or layers.
American Heritage
Webster's New World
idiom
flake out
  • to fall asleep
  • to faint
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Flake

Noun

Singular:
flake
Plural:
flakes

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Flake

Origin of Flake

  • From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English *flacca, from Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“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”), Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English fleke from Old Norse fleki hurdle, shield used for defense in battle plāk-1 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.

    From Wiktionary

  • Compare Icelandic flaki?, fleki?, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English plāk-1 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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