Etymology

fleet

F4L1E1E1T1

Today it means: A group of vessels or vehicles, generally operating in a unified way or traveling together. Full definition →

Middle English flete ← Old English flēot ← Proto-West Germanic *flotōn
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fleet · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*flutōną“to float”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*flotōn
  3. Old English · inherited fromflēot“ship”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromflete
  5. English todayfleet

From Middle English flete, flet (“fleet”), from Old English flēot (“ship”), likely related to Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”).

fleet · noun2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*fleutą
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fleut
  3. Old English · inherited fromflēot“a bay, gulf, an arm of the sea, estuary, the mouth of a river”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromflete“bay, gulf”
  5. English todayfleet

From Middle English flete (“bay, gulf”), from Old English flēot (“a bay, gulf, an arm of the sea, estuary, the mouth of a river”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleut, from Proto-Germanic *fleutą. Cognate with Dutch vliet (“stream, river, creek, inlet”), German Fleet (“watercourse, canal”).

fleet · verb, adjective3

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*fleutaną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fleutan
  3. Old English · inherited fromflēotan“float”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromfleten“float”
  5. English todayfleet

From Middle English fleten (“float”), from Old English flēotan (“float”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleutan, from Proto-Germanic *fleutaną.

fleet · noun4

See flet.

Fleet · proper noun5

From fleet (“stream, estuary”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishflēot all →

Fleetwood

Proto-West Germanic*flotōn all →

float

Proto-Germanic*flutōną all →

floatflutter

Middle Englishfleten all →

fleeting

Old Englishflēotan all →

fleeting

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.