Meaning
13 sensesA loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything
There were a few flakes of paint on the floor from when we were painting the walls.
flakes of dandruff
Flocke
стру́жкаstrúžka, оско́локoskólok, чешу́йкаčešújka
A scale of a fish or similar animal
A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
(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.
Schussel, Schnarchnase, Drückeberger
A carnation with only two colours in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
A flat turn or tier of rope.
(US, slang)A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota.
A wire rack for drying fish.
(UK, uncountable)Dogfish.
(Australia, uncountable)The meat of the gummy shark.
(UK, dialectal)A paling; a hurdle.
A platform of hurdles, or small sticks made fast or interwoven, supported by stanchions, for drying codfish and other things.
- a crystal of snow
- a small fragment of something broken off from the whole
- a person with an unusual or odd personality
Examples
23 sentencesSnow fell in large flakes.
Here, snow falls in large flakes.
The snow is falling in large flakes.
deDer Schnee rieselt in großen Flocken.
The snow is coming down in large flakes.
Tom likes corn chips, but hates corn flakes.
Translations
8 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 2
Origin
From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flFrom Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“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”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.
A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.
Compare Icelandic flaki, Icelandic fleki, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.
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