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Etymology and origin of the English word flap

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
c. 1320
From
Middle English flappen

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English flappen, with the noun flappe (“a blow, slap”),[2][3][4][5] probably imitative of the sound of striking,[6][3][7][8][9] like clap, slap and flack.[6] Similar words are Dutch flappen (“to strike, clap”) and German flappen (“to clap, applaud”),[6] and flap (“a blow, a fly-flap, a lid”).[6][8][4] The OED takes the noun from the verb,[6] Merriam-Webster the verb from the noun.[2] Klein compares fillip, flip, flippant and flop.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to toss or throw down suddenly: about 1320, in the Seven Sages.[6] Etymonline and Barnhart give the early 14th century, "to dash about, shake".[3][7] The noun first meant a blow or slap: about 1330 in Arthour and Merlin, where the MED dates the composition before 1300.[6][4][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb meant to strike (Langland, 1362) and, in the Wycliffite Bible, to clap the hands.[6] By the mid-15th century the Promptorium Parvulorum had both the verb "to strike with something broad" and the noun for a fly-flapper, a broad thing to strike with.[6][3] The sense of a thing that hangs loose, fastened only at one side, is first recorded in Skelton in the 1520s,[6][7] together with the verb "to swing about loosely";[6][3] Johnson (1755) defined the noun in just that way.[10] Birds flapped their wings from 1585,[6] and the noun for the motion or noise of a wing appears in 1774, in Goldsmith.[6][7] From that motion came the informal sense of a state of agitation or panic, as in to get in a flap, recorded from 1916,[6][7][3] first in British slang.[3] Phoneticians have used flap for a consonant made by a quick tap of the tongue since 1887.[6] In Scots and English dialect the verb still meant to strike with something soft, and in the north and in Suffolk to gad about aimlessly.[11] In 17th-century slang a flap was a loose woman,[12] and Hoad derives flapper in the sense "young woman" from its use for a young partridge.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1320 – verb, to toss, throw down suddenly.[6]
  • c. 1330 – noun, a blow or slap (obsolete by 1600).[6][7]
  • 1362 – verb, to strike.[6]
  • a1382 – to clap the hands.[6]
  • c. 1440 – to strike with something broad; noun, a fly-flapper.[6]
  • a1529 – a broad thing hanging loose, fastened at one side.[6][7]
  • 1529 – to swing or flutter loosely.[6]
  • 1530 – a loose part of a garment or hat.[6]
  • 1585 – of a bird, to strike with the wing.[6]
  • 1774 – the motion or noise of a wing.[6][7]
  • 1887 – phonetics, a flapped consonant.[6]
  • 1916 – a state of agitation or fuss.[6][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flat, flexible piece fastened along one side that hangs loose or covers an opening: the flap of an envelope.[2][6][13]
  2. A hinged leaf, as of a table or door.[2][13]
  3. A hinged surface on the trailing edge of an aircraft's wing, used to increase lift and drag.[13]
  4. The motion or sound of something flapping: the flap of a sail.[6][2]
  5. (informal) A state of agitation or panic; a fuss: Don't get in a flap.[6]
  6. (phonetics) A consonant made by one quick tap of the tongue.[6][13]
  7. (obsolete) A blow or slap.[2][6]
  8. (obsolete) A broad thing to strike with, such as a flyswatter.[2][6]

Verb

  1. To move wings or arms up and down, as in flying: The heron flapped slowly across the marsh.[9][2]
  2. To swing or flutter loosely and noisily: The flags flapped in the wind.[9][6]
  3. (informal) To become flustered or agitated.[9]
  4. To strike with something broad and flexible.[9][2][6]
  5. To toss or throw down suddenly: She flapped the letter down on the desk.[9][2]
  6. (phonetics) To pronounce a sound as a flap.[9][13]
  7. (obsolete) To clap or applaud.[2][6]

Word family

  • flapless
  • earflap
  • flapjack
  • flappy
  • flappable
  • flapper
  • unflappable
  • mud flap

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ 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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Flap.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/flap. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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