Etymology

flitch

F4L1I1T1C3H4

Today it means: The flank or side of an animal, now almost exclusively a pig when cured and salted; a side of bacon. Full definition →

Middle English flicche ← Old English fliċċe ← Proto-Germanic *flikkiją
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*pleh₁ḱ-“to tear, peel off”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*flikkiją“side, flitch”
  3. Old English · inherited fromfliċċe“side of an animal, flitch”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromflicche
  5. English todayflitch

From Middle English flicche, from Old English fliċċe (“side of an animal, flitch”), from Proto-Germanic *flikkiją (“side, flitch”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁ḱ- (“to tear, peel off”). Cognate with Low German flikke, French flèche, Icelandic flikki (“flitch”), Middle Low German vlicke.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁ḱ- all →

flesh

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.