flock

flock · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic*flukkaz
2. Proto-West Germanic*flokk
3. Old Englishflocc
4. Middle Englishflok
5. English todayflock

From Middle English flok, from Old English flocc (“flock, company, troop”), from Proto-West Germanic *flokk, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with German Low German Flock (“crowd, flock”), Danish flok (“flock”), Swedish flock (“flock”), Norwegian flokk (“flock”), Faroese flokkur (“flock”), Icelandic flokkur (“flock, group”). Related also to Norman fliotchet (“flock, crowd”), from Old Norse. Perhaps related to Old English folc (“crowd, troop, band”). More at folk.

flock · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*plewk-“hair, fibres, tuft”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*flukkōn-
3. Frankish · derived from*flokko“down, wool, flock”
4. Late Latin · derived fromfloccus“tuft of wool”
5. Old French · derived fromfloc“tuft of wool”
6. Middle English · inherited fromflok“tuft of wool”
7. English todayflock

From Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkōn-, *flukkan-, *fluksōn- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”).

Words from the same roots