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flake

UK/fleɪk/ US/ˈfleɪk/ uncommon informal slang uk us
verb (3) noun (3)

verb

1.

form into flakes

  • “The substances started to flake”
2.

cover with flakes or as if with flakes

3.

come off in flakes or thin small pieces

  • “The paint in my house is peeling off”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a crystal of snow

Synonyms
2.
3.

a small fragment of something broken off from the whole

  • “a bit of rock caught him in the eye”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“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”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

Phrases

  • bread flake
  • flake down
  • flake off
  • flake out
  • flake salt
  • flake white
  • rye flake
  • soap flake

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.