flee

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fleen, inherited from Old English flēon (“to take flight, escape”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną (“to run away”).^[3][5] Its cognates are Old Frisian fliā, Old Saxon fliohan, Dutch vlieden, Old High German fliohan and German fliehen, Old Norse flýja and Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan).^[6][5][7][8] The Gothic initial shows that the Germanic verb began with the consonant thorn, not with f;^[9][6] the OED says the root, pre-Germanic *tleuk-, has not been found outside Germanic,^[6] while Etymonline and the AHD link it to Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to flow”),^[3][4] a connection that Köbler marks as uncertain.^[10] It was already confused with fly in Old English, where flee and fly shared their past forms,^[8][7][11] though Ayto finds no reliable evidence that they are related.^[11] The past tense fled is a Middle English weak form, which Skeat and Etymonline put down to Scandinavian influence.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To run away from danger, to take flight, and to hasten to a place of safety: Old English, in the Vespasian Psalter,^[6] which Barnhart dates to about 825.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old English also used flēon for withdrawing from a place or keeping away from a practice.^[6] In Middle English it gained the senses "pass away quickly, vanish" (c. 1200) and "escape, get safely away" (c. 1300).^[6] The strong past forms lasted into the 15th century, but weak forms such as fled are found from the 13th.^[7][9] Because flee and fly had the same past forms, they became interchangeable in sense,^[7] and flee is now and then used for flying through the air, often by Shelley.^[6] In Yorkshire dialect it kept old past tenses such as fleead and flid.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 825 – flēon, to run away (Vespasian Psalter).^[5][6]
• c. 1200 – to pass away quickly, vanish.^[6]
• before 1200 – Middle English flien, fleien (Layamon).^[13]
• c. 1300 – to make one's escape (Havelok).^[6]
• 13th century – weak past forms such as fled appear.^[7]
• 15th century – the strong past forms die out.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To run away from a place, person or danger; to escape: Thousands fled the burning city.
2. To hurry towards a place of safety or protection.
3. To move or pass swiftly; to vanish.
4. To avoid or shun something.

Word family

• outflee
• unfleeing

Related words

• flight
• fly
• fugitive

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology