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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

flaw.

A flake, fragment, or shiver.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/flɔː/Received-Pronunciation/floː/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/flɔ/General-American/flɑ/General-American, cot-caught-merger

  1. A flake, fragment, or shiver.

    obsolete

  2. A thin cake, as of ice.

    obsolete

  3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.

    There is a flaw in that knife.
    That vase has a flaw.

  4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.

  5. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden. An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.

  6. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden. A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.

    a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute
Where this word comes from

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).

verb/flɔː/Received-Pronunciation/floː/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/flɔ/General-American/flɑ/General-American, cot-caught-merger

  1. To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.

    transitive

  2. To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).

noun/ˈflɔː/

  1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.

  2. A storm of short duration.

  3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder

Where this word comes from

From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā. Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga; all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (“blow, strike”). See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.