Etymologically
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flap

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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