floss

floss · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*fleus
2. Middle English · inherited from*flos
3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*plewk-“hair, fibres, tuft”
4. Proto-Germanic · derived from*flukkô“down, piece of wool, flock”
5. Frankish · derived from*flokkō“down, wool, flock”
6. Latin · derived fromfloccus“piece of wool”
7. Old French · derived fromflosche“down, velvet”
8. French · borrowed fromfloche“tuft of wool”
9. English todayfloss

Unclear: * Possibly from French floche (“tuft of wool”), from floc, from Old French flosche (“down, velvet”), from Latin floccus (“piece of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokkō (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkô (“down, piece of wool, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). * Or, from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger (a surname)), from Proto-West Germanic *fleus, related to English fleece. Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”), Dutch flos (“plush”) (tr=17c.).

floss · noun²

1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*fleutan
2. Middle Dutch · derived fromvlacke“a flat area, plain”
3. Old French · derived fromflache
4. Middle English · inherited fromflosche
5. English todayfloss

From dialectal flosh (“a flush, stream of water, sluice”), from Middle English flosche, flusche, flasche, flaske (“a watery or marshy place, swamp”), perhaps from Old French flache, from Middle Dutch vlacke (“a flat area, plain”), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *fleutan. Compare also German Floss (“a float”).

floss · noun³

Origin obscure. Perhaps of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian flos, flus (“rind, scale, strip peeled off”).

Words from the same roots