flee

English

Etymology

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

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.

   • 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.

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

   Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Related terms

• flight

Translations

to run away; to escape

• Arabic: هَرَبَ‏‎ (haraba), فَرَّ‏‎ (farra)
• Armenian: փախչել (hy) (pʿaxčʿel)
• Asturian: fuxir
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: redek (br), tec'hout (br), fuiñ
• Bulgarian: бягам (bg) (bjagam), избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam)
• Catalan: fugir (ca)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: utéct (cs), utéci (cs) pf
• Danish: flygte (da), fly (da)
• Dutch: vluchten (nl), wegvluchten, ontsnappen (nl)
• Esperanto: fuĝi
• Faroese: flýggja
• Finnish: paeta (fi), karata (fi)
• French: s'enfuir (fr)
• Friulian: fuî
• Galician: fuxir (gl)
• Georgian: გაქცევა (gakceva)
• German: fliehen (de), flüchten (de)
• Greek: φεύγω (el) (févgo)

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

• Hindi: भागना (hi) (bagana)
• Icelandic: flýja (is)
• Ido: fugar (io)
• Italian: fuggire (it)
• Japanese: 逃げる (にげる, nigeru)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can

• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: revîn (ku), bazdan (ku), bezîn (ku)

  Sorani: هه‌ڵاتن‏‎, ده‌رپه‌ڕین‏‎

  Zazaki: remayen (ku)

• Latin: fugiō (la), fugitō (la), perfugio
• Low German:

  German Low German: flüchten

• Macedonian: по́бегне (póbegne), на́пушти (nápušti)
• Maori: kairere, tūrere
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flykte, rømme (no)

  Nynorsk: flykte, rømme

• Novial: fuga
• Old Church Slavonic: бѣжати (běžati)
• Old Saxon: fliohan
• Persian: گریختن‏‎ (fa) (gorixtæn)
• 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)
• Spanish: huir (es)
• Swedish: fly (sv)
• Telugu: పారిపోవు (te) (pāripōvu)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Venetian: fuxir, fùxer, fugér, fugir
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: ffoi (cy)

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 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)
• Japanese: 逃げる (にげる, nigeru)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ڕاکردن‏‎

• Latin: fugio (la), confugio (la), diffugio, profugio, refugio, 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)
• 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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)

• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} revîn (ku), ^{(please verify)} bazdan (ku)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} huir (es), ^{(please verify)} fugarse (es)

Anagrams

• elfe, feel, fele

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Scots

Etymology

From Old English flȳġe, flēoge.

Noun

flee

1. fly