Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling. · To jeer at; to mock. · To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions. · To blurt out.
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.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Cognate mentionflirtnds · a flick of the fingers, a light blow
- Cognate mentionflirtjends · a giddy girl
- Cognate mentionflirtjends · a flirt
- Cognate mentionFlittchende · a flirt; tart; hussy
- Cognate mentionflirano · to giggle, titter
- Cognate mentionjillflirten
- Cognate mentionflirdsco · a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt
- Cognate mentionflerdenm · mockery, fraud, deception
- Cognate mentionfleardang · nonsense, vanity, folly, deception
- Cognate mentionflærðis · trickiness, deceit
- Cognate mentionflärdsv · vanity, frivolity, flamboyance
- Cognate mentionflardnl · tatter, shred
This page abbreviates 2 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"word": "flirtovat",
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"lang_code": "da",
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{
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"lang_code": "de",
"word": "flirten",
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{
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"lang_code": "he",
"word": "פְלִרְטֵט",
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"roman": "flirtét"
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"word": "flertar",
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{
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"word": "flirtear",
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}
],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling.",
"To jeer at; to mock.",
"To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions.",
"To blurt out."
],
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"archaic",
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