Wiktionary

flaw

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

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 *plok- (“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 fragment, piece”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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.
  4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:
      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.
    2. (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 edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Verb edit

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 edit

Etymology 2 edit

From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā.[1] Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga;[2] all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (“blow, strike”). See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

flaw (plural flaws)

  1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
  2. A storm of short duration.
  3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder
    Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel
Translations edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading edit

“flaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

References edit

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  2. ^ “flaw”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams edit

Sranan Tongo edit

Verb edit

flaw

  1. To faint.
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