flange

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Most dictionaries take it as from English a variant or alteration of flanch, recorded in the same sense from 1728.^{[2][7][8][9][3][6]} The OED takes this flanch as probably from the heraldic flanch (1562), a bearing on each side of a shield, and the verb flanch, to spread or widen out (1776).^[2] The heraldic word is usually traced to Old French flanche, a feminine form of flanc (“side, flank”), the source of flank,^{[2][6][9][10][11]} but the OED finds the sense hardly suitable,^[2][6] and Barnhart allows only that the word is perhaps ultimately connected with the French noun.^[5] Dictionary.com derives flange from late Middle English flaunche (“a side charge on a shield”), from Middle French flanche.^[12] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Concise Oxford instead suggest Old French flanchir (“to bend”),^[13][14] a form Partridge gives as flangir (“to turn or bend”), of Germanic origin;^[15][11] the OED notes this verb as a synonym, perhaps a variant, of flechir (“to bend”), and asks whether the English verb could be a specialised borrowing of it.^[2] No French verb meaning "to spread out" has been found.^[2][6] The French noun flanc is itself Germanic: Partridge traces it to Frankish *hlanka (“hip”),^[15] and Skeat compares Old High German hlancha (“hip, loin”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A widening or branching out, in a pan: 1688, in Randle Holme's Academy of Armory, spelled flang.^[2][5][7] This sense is now obsolete.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "part that widens out" was used from 1747 of a widening in a vein of ore.^[2][7] From 1735 the word meant the projecting flat rim, collar or rib that strengthens an object, guides it or fastens it to another;^[2][6] Hoad dates the first sense to the 17th century and the second to the 18th.^[4] In the 19th century it spread to any rim or projecting surface (1876), to a plate closing the end of a pipe (1881) and to flattened discs (1884); from 1880, in Mark Twain, it was also used of rims or fans standing out from natural objects.^[2][6] The verb, first meaning "to widen out", is recorded in 1820 in Wilbraham's glossary of Cheshire dialect;^[2][6] the transitive sense, to furnish with a flange, is dated 1873 by the OED and about 1859 by Merriam-Webster,^[2][7] and flanged, fitted with a flange, appears by 1797.^[6] In northern English dialects the noun was used for any projection, including the brim of a hat, and the verb for spreading or sloping outward; a flanging-pan was a large earthenware bowl in Lancashire.^[16] In 20th-century slang flange has been used of the head of the penis (1966) and, originally in the US, of the vagina.^[17]

Timeline

• 1688 – the part that widens out, in a pan (obsolete).^[2][5]
• 1735 – a projecting flat rim, collar or rib.^[2][6]
• 1747 – a widening in a vein of ore.^[2]
• 1820 – verb, to widen out.^[2][6]
• 1873 – verb, to furnish with a flange.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to about 1859.^[7]
• 1876 – any rim or projecting surface.^[2]
• 1880 – a rim or fan standing out from a natural object.^[2]
• 1884 – a flattened-out disc.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A projecting rim or collar, as on a shaft or pipe fitting, that strengthens an object or attaches it to another: The two pipes were bolted together at the flanges.^[18][7][2]
2. A projecting edge on the inner rim of a railway wheel that keeps it on the rail.^[7][3]
3. The wide flat part at the top and bottom of an I-beam or girder.^[18][7]
4. A spreading out, as of a vein of ore.^[7][3]
5. A tool for making flanges.^[18]

Verb

1. To fit or furnish with a flange, or to form a flange on.^[18][7][2]
2. To widen or spread out.^[7][2]
3. To take the form of a flange.^[18][2]

Word family

• flangeless
• flanger
• flangeway

Related words

• flanch
• flank

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins