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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

flirt.

A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/flɜːt/Received-Pronunciation/flɚt/US/flɪɾt/Scotland/fløːt/New-Zealand, Wales
  1. A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion

  2. Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.

  3. An act of flirting.

  4. A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.

  5. A brief shower (of rain or snow).

    dialectal
  6. Russula vesca, an edible woodland mushroom.

    with-definite-article
Where this word comes from

1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.

verb/flɜːt/Received-Pronunciation/flɚt/US/flɪɾt/Scotland/fløːt/New-Zealand, Wales
  1. To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling.

    transitive
    They flirt water in each other's faces.
  2. To jeer at; to mock.

    archaic · intransitive
  3. To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions.

    intransitive
  4. To blurt out.

    transitive
  5. To play at courtship; to talk with light affection, to imply sexual attraction in a playful (especially conversational) way.

    intransitive
  6. To experiment, or tentatively engage, with; to become involved in passing with.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.

adj/flɜːt/Received-Pronunciation/flɚt/US/flɪɾt/Scotland/fløːt/New-Zealand, Wales
  1. Flirtatious.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.

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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.