Etymology

flea

F4L1E1A1

Today it means: A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities. Full definition →

Middle English fle ← Old English flēah ← Proto-West Germanic *flauh
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flea · noun, verb1

  1. Old English · inherited fromflēan“fleas”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromfleen
  3. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*plus-
  4. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*flauhaz
  5. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*flauh
  6. Old English · inherited fromflēah
  7. Middle English · inherited fromfle
  8. English todayflea

From Middle English fle, from Old English flēah, flēa, from Proto-West Germanic *flauh, from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (compare West Frisian flie, Low German Flo, Flö, Dutch vlo, German Floh, Icelandic fló), from pre-Germanic *plóukos, *plówkos, from or akin to Proto-Indo-European *plus- (compare Latin pulex, Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi)). The archaic plural fleen is from Middle English fleen, flen, from Old English flēan (“fleas”).

flea · verb2

Alternative forms.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishflēan all →

flay

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.