Etymology

flight

F4L1I1G2H4T1

Today it means: The act of flying; the ability to fly. Full definition →

Middle English flight ← Old English flyht ← Proto-West Germanic *fluhti
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

flight · noun, adjective, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*plew-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*plewk-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pléwketi
  4. Proto-Germanic*fleuganą
  5. Proto-West Germanic*fleugan
  6. Proto-West Germanic*fluhti
  7. Old Englishflyht
  8. Middle Englishflight
  9. English todayflight

From Middle English flight, from Old English flyht (“flight”), from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti (“flight”), derived from *fleuganą (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Analyzable as fly + -t (variant of -th). Cognate with West Frisian flecht (“flight”), Dutch vlucht (“flight”), German Flucht (“flight”) (etymology 2).

flight · noun2

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fluhti
  2. Old English · inherited fromflyht
  3. English todayflight

From Middle English, from Old English flyht, from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti, derived from *fleuhaną (“to flee”). Analyzable as flee + -t (variant of -th). Cognate with Dutch vlucht, German Flucht (etymology 1).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*plewk- all →

flyflockfleeplumeflossplumagefledge

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.