flee

English

Etymology

From Old English flēon, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-, *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”).

Cognate with Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Icelandic flýja, Swedish fly, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan). Within English, related to fly and more distantly to flow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fliː/
• Rhymes: -iː

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: flea

Verb

flee (third-person singular simple present flees, present participle fleeing, simple past and past participle fled)

1. (intransitive) To run away; to escape.

   The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1:

     The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.

2. (transitive) To escape from.

   Many people fled the country as war loomed.

   Thousands of people moved northward trying to flee the drought.

   • 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: Passed to you, Mr. Macmillan”, in Modern Railways, page 220:

     The Government, having lit the fuse, is not going to be allowed to flee the explosion.

3. (intransitive) To disappear quickly; to vanish.

   Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Derived terms

• beflee
• fill and flee

Related terms

• flight

Translations

to run away; to escape

• Afrikaans: vlug (af)
• Albanian: vërdhoj (sq), arratis (sq), iki (sq)
• Arabic: هَرَبَ‎ (ar) (haraba), فَرَّ‎ (farra)
• Armenian: փախչել (hy) (pʿaxčʿel)
• Asturian: fuxir
• Azerbaijani: qaçmaq (az)
• Basque: ihes egin (eu)
• Belarusian: уцяка́ць impf (ucjakácʹ), уцячы́ pf (ucjačý), бегчы́ impf (bjehčý), убе́гчы pf (ubjéhčy)
• Bengali: পালানো (bn) (palanō), ভাগা (bn) (bhaga), ফেরার করা (pherar kora)
• Breton: redek (br), tec'hout (br), fuiñ
• Bulgarian: бя́гам (bg) impf (bjágam), избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam)
• Burmese: ထွက်ပြေး (my) (htwakpre:), လိုက်ပြေး (my) (luikpre:), ပြေး (my) (pre:)
• Catalan: fugir (ca)
• Chechen: дада (dada)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逃 (zh) (táo), 奔逃 (zh) (bēntáo), 奔 (zh) (bēn)

• Czech: utéct (cs), utéci (cs) pf, utíkat (cs) impf
• Danish: flygte (da), fly (da)
• Dutch: vluchten (nl), wegvluchten (nl), ontsnappen (nl), vlieden (nl)
• Egyptian: (jfd)
• Esperanto: fuĝi
• Estonian: põgenema
• Faroese: flýggja
• Finnish: paeta (fi), karata (fi)
• French: s'enfuir (fr), prendre la fuite (fr)
• Friulian: fuî
• Galician: fuxir (gl)
• Georgian: გაქცევა (gakceva)
• German: fliehen (de), flüchten (de)
• Gothic: 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan)
• Greek: φεύγω (el) (févgo)

  Ancient Greek: φεύγω (pheúgō), τρέω (tréō)

• Hebrew: נָס‎ (he) (nás)
• Hindi: भागना (hi) (bhāgnā)
• Hungarian: menekül (hu)
• Icelandic: flýja (is)
• Ido: fugar (io)
• Irish: teith
• Italian: fuggire (it)
• Japanese: 逃げる (ja) (にげる, nigeru)
• Kabuverdianu: fuji
• Kazakh: қашу (kk) (qaşu)
• Khmer: គេច (km) (kɨc), ក្រឡេច (km) (krɑləc), រត់ (km) (rŭət)
• Korean: 달아나다 (ko) (daranada), 도망치다 (ko) (domangchida), 도망가다 (ko) (domanggada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەڵاتن‎ (hellatin), دەرپەڕین‎ (derperrîn)

  Northern Kurdish: revîn (ku), bazdan (ku), bezîn (ku)

  Zazaki: remayen

• Kyrgyz: качуу (ky) (kaçuu)
• Lao: ຫນີ (nī)
• Latin: fugiō (la), fugitō (la), perfugio
• Latvian: bēgt
• Lithuanian: bėgti (lt)
• Low German:

  German Low German: flüchten

• Macedonian: по́бегне (póbegne), на́пушти (nápušti)
• Maguindanao: laguy
• Maori: kairere, tūrere, papahoro
• Mongolian: зугтах (mn) (zugtax)
• Northern Sami: báhtarit
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flykte (no), rømme (no)

  Nynorsk: flykte, rømme

• Occitan: fugir (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic: бѣжати (běžati)
• Old English: flēon, ætflēon
• Old Norse: flýja
• Old Saxon: fliohan
• Persian: گریختن‎ (fa) (gorixtan), فرار کردن‎ (fa)
• Polish: uciec (pl) pf, uciekać (pl) impf, zbiec (pl) pf, umknąć (pl) pf, umykać impf
• Portuguese: escapar (pt), fugir (pt)
• Quechua: ayqey, chinkakapuy, mitikuy
• Romanian: scăpa (ro), evada (ro), fugi (ro)
• Russian: убега́ть (ru) impf (ubegátʹ), убежа́ть (ru) pf (ubežátʹ), удира́ть (ru) impf (udirátʹ), удра́ть (ru) pf (udrátʹ)
• Sami:

  Kildin Sami: поа̄ччкэ (poа̄ččke)

  Lule Sami: báhtarit

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бежати impf

  Roman: bežati (sh) impf

• Slovak: utekať impf, utiecť pf
• Slovene: bežati (sl) impf
• Spanish: huir (es)
• Swedish: fly (sv)
• Tajik: гурехтан (tg) (gurextan)
• Telugu: పారిపోవు (te) (pāripōvu)
• Thai: หนี (th) (nǐi)
• Turkish: kaçmak (tr)
• Turkmen: gaçmak
• Ukrainian: тіка́ти impf (tikáty), утіка́ти impf (utikáty), утекти́ pf (utektý), бі́гти (uk) impf (bíhty)
• Urdu: بهاگنا‎ (bhāgnā)
• Uyghur: قاچماق‎ (qachmaq)
• Uzbek: qochmoq (uz)
• Venetian: fuxir, fùxer, fugér, fugir
• Vietnamese: bôn (vi), bôn đào (vi), bỏ chạy
• Welsh: ffoi (cy)
• Yakut: куот (kuot)
• Yiddish: אַנטלויפֿן‎ (antloyfn)

to escape from

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: փախչել (hy) (pʿaxčʿel)
• Breton: tec'hel (br)
• Bulgarian: избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam)
• Catalan: fugir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: utéci (cs) pf, utíkat (cs) impf
• Danish: flygte (da)
• Dutch: ontkomen (nl), ontlopen (nl), ontvluchten (nl)
• Esperanto: fuĝi
• Finnish: paeta (fi), karata (fi)
• French: fuir (fr), échapper (fr)
• Friulian: fuî
• Georgian: გაქცევა (gakceva)
• German: fliehen (de), entfliehen (de), flüchten (de)
• Icelandic: flýja (is)
• Ido: eskapar (io)
• Irish: teith ó/roimh
• Japanese: 逃げる (ja) (にげる, nigeru)
• Kabuverdianu: fuji
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڕاکردن‎ (ckb) (rakirdin)

• Latin: fugio (la), confugio (la), diffugio, profugio, refugio (la), evado, evado
• Macedonian: и́збегне (ízbegne)
• Polish: uciec (pl), uciekać (pl), zbiec (pl), umknąć (pl), umykać
• Portuguese: escapar de, fugir de
• Romanian: fugi (ro)
• Russian: убега́ть (ru) impf (ubegátʹ), убежа́ть (ru) pf (ubežátʹ), удира́ть (ru) impf (udirátʹ), удра́ть (ru) pf (udrátʹ)
• Spanish: huir (es)
• Swedish: fly (sv)
• Telugu: పారిపోవు (te) (pāripōvu)
• Thai: หนี (th) (nǐi)
• Welsh: ffoi (cy)

to disappear quickly

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: tec'hout (br)
• Bulgarian: изчезвам бързо (izčezvam bǎrzo)
• Catalan: esvair-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: zmizet (cs) pf, vypařit se pf, zdrhnout (cs) pf (colloquial)
• Dutch: vervliegen (nl), vlieden (nl)
• Finnish: kadota (fi)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: evanesco, aufugio
• Maori: hārewa (of birds)
• Polish: ulotnić się, ulatniać się
• Portuguese: sumir (pt)
• Romanian: (figuratively) a se evapora, dispărea (ro)
• Russian: улету́чиваться (ru) impf (uletúčivatʹsja), улету́читься (ru) pf (uletúčitʹsja)
• Spanish: desvanecerse (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} fuĝi
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} minggat (id), ^{(please verify)} melarikan diri (id)
• Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} revîn (ku), ^{(please verify)} bazdan (ku)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} huir (es), ^{(please verify)} fugarse (es)

Anagrams

• elfe, feel, fele, leef

Middle English

Noun

flee

1. Alternative form of fle

Scots

Alternative forms

• fle, flei

Etymology

From Middle English flye, from Old English flȳġe, flēoge, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ. Compare English fly, Dutch vlieg, German Fliege.

Noun

flee

1. fly