flotilla

English

Etymology

From Spanish flotilla, diminutive of flota (“fleet”), from French flotte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /floʊˈtɪlə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: flo‧til‧la
• Rhymes: -ɪlə

Noun

flotilla (plural flotillas)

1. (nautical) A small fleet of warships (usually of the same class), or a fleet of small ships.
   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 102:

     Toward the horizon a flotilla of fishing-boats showed immutable, pink-lacquered by the evening sun.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians Codex entry:

     Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations.
     Home to 17 million quarians, the flotilla understandably has scarce resources. Because of this, each quarian must go on a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage when they come of age. They leave the fleet and only return once they have found something of value they can bring back to their people.

2. (by extension) A small group of things or people
   • 2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], “Abandon Starbucks!”, in Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 74:

     After a few moments Chloe saw Rosamund walking towards them with a small flotilla of shopping bags.

   • 2021, Liz Trenow, The Secrets of the Lake:

     flotilla of tiny ducklings

Derived terms

• flotillin
• squadrilla

Translations

small fleet

• Belarusian: флаты́лія f (flatýlija)
• Catalan: flotilla (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小船隊 / 小船队 (xiǎochuánduì)

• Czech: flotila (cs) f
• Danish: flotille c
• Dutch: flottielje (nl)
• Finnish: lippue (fi)
• French: flottille (fr) f
• Galician: flotilla f
• German: Flottille (de) f
• Hungarian: hajóraj (hu), flottilla (hu)
• Icelandic: lítill floti m, smáfloti m, flotasveit f
• Italian: flottiglia (it) f
• Korean: 전단 (ko) (jeondan)
• Latin: classicula f
• Latvian: flotila f
• Lithuanian: flotilė f
• Maori: kahupapa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flotilje m

  Nynorsk: flotilje m

• Polish: flotylla (pl) f
• Portuguese: flotilha (pt) f
• Romanian: flotilă (ro) f
• Russian: флоти́лия (ru) f (flotílija)
• Slovak: flotila (sk) f
• Spanish: flotilla (es) f
• Swedish: flottilj (sv) c
• Ukrainian: флоти́лія (uk) f (flotýlija)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish flotilla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fluˈti.ʎə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [floˈti.ʎa]

Noun

flotilla f (plural flotilles)

1. flotilla

Further reading

• “flotilla”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “flotilla”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “flotilla” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “flotilla” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Spanish

Etymology

From flota +‎ -illa.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /floˈtiʝa/ [floˈt̪i.ʝa]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain and Latin America) /floˈtiʝa/ [floˈt̪i.ʝa]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines) /floˈtiʎa/ [floˈt̪i.ʎa]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /floˈtiʃa/ [floˈt̪i.ʃa]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /floˈtiʒa/ [floˈt̪i.ʒa]

 

• Rhymes: -iʝa

• Rhymes: -iʝa
• Rhymes: -iʎa
• Rhymes: -iʃa
• Rhymes: -iʒa

• Syllabification: flo‧ti‧lla

Noun

flotilla f (plural flotillas)

1. fleet, flotilla

Descendants

• → Catalan: flotilla
• → English: flotilla
• → French: flottille
• → Italian: flottiglia
• → Portuguese: flotilha

Further reading

• “flotilla”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10