flaw

Contents

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plāk- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a frament, piece”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈflɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈflɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈflɑ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: floor (in non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.

   There is a flaw in that knife.

   That vase has a flaw.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     This heart / Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws.

4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
   • (Can we date this quote?) South

     Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?

   1. (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
5. (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.

   a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Derived terms

• flawful
• flawless
• flawsome
• tragic flaw

Translations

crack or breach

• Bulgarian: пукнатина (bg) f (puknatina), цепнатина (bg) f (cepnatina)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 疵 (zh) (cī)

• Finnish: virhe (fi)
• French: défaut (fr) m, fissure (fr) f,
• Galician: fenda f, brecha f
• German: Fehler (de)
• Hungarian: repedés (hu)
• Italian: fessura (it) f, cricca (it) f, crepa (it) f
• Japanese: ひび (hibi)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: feil (no) m, brist m, skavank m

• Occitan: deca f, brèca (oc) f, bèrca (oc) f
• Portuguese: falha (pt) f, defeito (pt) m
• Russian: тре́щина (ru) f (tréščina), щель (ru) f (ščelʹ), поро́к (ru) m (porók)
• Slovak: prasklina f, škára f
• Spanish: falla (es)
• Swedish: spricka (sv), skavank (sv)
• Turkish: çatlak (tr), çizik (tr)

defect, fault

• Armenian: արատ (hy) (arat)
• Bulgarian: недостатък (bg) m (nedostatǎk), дефект (bg) m (defekt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瑕疵 (xiácī), 毛病 (máobìng)

• Crimean Tatar: brak
• Czech: vada (cs)
• Finnish: virhe (fi), vika (fi)
• French: faille (fr) f
• Galician: eiva f
• German: Makel (de) m, Fehler (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ψόγος m (psógos)

• Hungarian: hiba (hu), hiányosság (hu)
• Italian: difetto (it) m, errore (it) m, imperfezione (it) f
• Japanese: 欠点 (ja) (kekkan), 瑕疵 (ja) (kashi)
• Korean: 결점 (ko) (gyeoljeom)
• Latin: vitium n

• Maori: tōrōkiri
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: feil (no) m, brist m, brist m

• Occitan: manca f, deca f, sin (oc) m, peca f, defaut m, taca f
• Polish: wada (pl) f
• Portuguese: falha (pt) f, defeito (pt) m, erro (pt) m
• Russian: изъя́н (ru) m (izʺján), недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok), поро́к (ru) m (porók), брак (ru) m (brak), дефе́кт (ru) m (defékt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мана f

  Roman: mana (sh) f

• Slovak: vada f, závada f, chyba f
• Slovene: napaka (sl), pomanjkljivost, razpoka (sl)
• Spanish: imperfección (es), desperfecto (es), pega (es) f
• Swedish: fel (sv), brist (sv)
• Turkish: hata (tr), kusur (tr)
• Ukrainian: вада (uk) (vada)

defect in a gemstone

• French: crapaud (fr) m
• Italian: imperfezione (it) f, difetto (it) m

• Spanish: defecto (es) m

Verb

flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)

1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.

Translations

to add a flaw to

• Bulgarian: пуквам (bg) (pukvam), разцепвам (bg) (razcepvam)
• Hungarian: elront (hu)

• Russian: по́ртить (ru) impf (pórtitʹ), испо́ртить (ru) pf (ispórtitʹ), поврежда́ть (ru) impf (povreždátʹ), повреди́ть (ru) pf (povredítʹ)

to become imperfect

• Bulgarian: повреждам се (povreždam se)
• Hungarian: elromlik (hu)

• Russian: поврежда́ться (ru) impf (povreždátʹsja), повреди́ться (ru) pf (povredítʹsja)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɔː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Tennyson

     Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn.

2. A storm of short duration.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder

   Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel

   • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

     And deluges of armies from the town / Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.

Translations

burst of wind

• Bulgarian: шквал m (škval)
• French: bourrasque (fr) f

• German: Windbö f
• Russian: шквал (ru) m (škval), поры́в ве́тра m (porýv vétra)

burst of noise

• French: tumulte (fr) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} napaka (sl), ^{(please verify)} pomanjkljivost, ^{(please verify)} spodrsljaj

Anagrams

• AFLW, WAFL

---

Sranan Tongo

Verb

flaw

1. To faint.