fledge

F4L1E1D2G2E1
/flɛd͡ʒ/

verb

To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight.

Similar
flightfeather
OriginMiddle English flegge ← Old English *flyċġe ← Proto-West Germanic *flugi →
UncommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

verbfledge (third-person singular simple present fledges, present participle fledging, simple past and past participle fledged)

present singular third person fledges · participle present fledging · participle past fledged · past fledged · alternative dialectal obsolete flidge · alternative dialectal obsolete flig · alternative dialectal obsolete flish · alternative dialectal obsolete flitch · alternative dialectal obsolete flush

  1. transitiveTo care for a young bird until it is capable of flight.
  2. intransitiveTo grow, cover or be covered with feathers.
  3. transitiveTo decorate with feathers.
  4. intransitiveTo complete the last moult and become a winged adult insect.
adjectivefledge (not comparable)

alternative dialectal obsolete flidge · alternative dialectal obsolete flig · alternative dialectal obsolete flish · alternative dialectal obsolete flitch · alternative dialectal obsolete flush

  1. archaicnot comparableFeathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly.

    his shoulders, fledge with wings

    1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

verbdecorate with feathers

Similar
flight
Broader
decorateadorngrace

verbgrow feathers

Similar
feather
Broader
growdevelopproduce
Also see
featherflightplume

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*plewk-“to run, flow, be swift, flee, fly”
  2. Proto-Germanic*flugjaz“able to fly, fledged”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*flugi
  4. Old English*flyċġe“able to fly, fledged”
  5. Middle Englishflegge
  6. Englishfledge

From Middle English flegge, fligge, flygge, from Old English *flyċġe (“able to fly, fledged”) (attested in *unflyċġe, unfligge (“unfledged”)), from Proto-West Germanic *flugi, from Proto-Germanic *flugjaz (“able to fly, fledged”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to run, flow, be swift, flee, fly”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Dutch vlug (“fledged, able to fly, nimble, swift”), Low German flügg (“fledged”), German flügge, German flücke (“fledged”), Icelandic fleygur (“able to fly, fledged”)

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with fledge

edgeregpledgehedgewedgevegledgeallegesledgedredgesedgelegeswagekedgecledgeCornish hedgefedgetedge
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

fledge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fledge

MLA

“fledge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fledge. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fledge,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fledge.

Source: fledge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.