flaw

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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 *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[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, volume (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]

Probably Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge.[1] Or, of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga;[2] all from Proto-Germanic *flagōn-. See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

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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