flake

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /fleɪk/, SAMPA: /fleIk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk

Etymology 1

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

Noun

flake (plural flakes)

1. A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything; a film; flock; lamina; layer; scale; as, a flake of snow, paint, or fish.

   There were a few flakes of paint on the floor from when we were painting the walls.

   flakes of dandruff

2. (archaeology) A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
3. (informal) A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.

   She makes pleasant conversation, but she's kind of a flake when it comes time for action.

Translations

thin chiplike layer

Chinese: Mandarin: 小片 (cmn) (xiǎopiàn), 薄片 (cmn) (báopiàn) Czech: vločka (cs) f. Dutch: vlok (nl) f., schilfer (nl) m. French: éclat (fr) m., fragment (fr) m. German: Flocke (de) f. Greek: φολίδα (el) (folíδa) f., νιφάδα (el) (nifáδa) f., λέπι (el) (lépi) n. Hungarian: pehely (hu)

Italian: fiocco (it) m. Japanese: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: floco (pt) m. Russian: стружка (ru) (strúžka) f., осколок (ru) (oskólok) m., чешуйка (ru) (češújka) f., хлопья (ru) (xlóp’ja) n. pl. Spanish: escama (es) f., hojuela (es) f., copa (es) f., copo (es) m. Swedish: flinga (sv), flaga (sv) Turkish: pul (tr)

archaeology: thin stone tool

Dutch: splinter (nl) French: éclat (fr) m.

Spanish: lasca (es) f.

an unreliable person

Dutch: lafaard (nl)

French: lâche (fr) m.

Verb

flake (third-person singular simple present flakes, present participle flaking, simple past and past participle flaked)

1. To break or chip off in a flake.

   The paint flaked off after only a year.

2. (colloquial) To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through.

   He said he'd come and help, but he flaked.

3. (technical) To store an item such as rope in layers

   The line is flaked into the container for easy attachment and deployment.

4. (Ireland, slang) to hit (another person).

Derived terms

• flake off
• flake out

Translations

to break or chip

Chinese: Mandarin: 剝落 (cmn), 剥落 (cmn) (bōluò) Dutch: schilferen (nl), afschilferen (nl)

French: peler (fr) Greek: απολεπίζω (el) (apolepízo), ξεφλουδίζω (el) (ksefluδízo) Spanish: descamar (es), descarapelar (es)

To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through

Dutch: verraden (nl), afvallig zijn (nl),opgeven (nl)

Etymology 2

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

Noun

flake (uncountable)

1. (UK) dogfish
2. (Australian) The meat of the gummy shark.

References

• flake in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913