flight

English has two words spelled flight: the act of flying, related to fly, and the act of fleeing, related to flee.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /flaɪt/^[4]

flight¹ flying

Etymology

The act of flying is inherited from Middle English fliht,^[1] inherited from Old English flyht (“a flying, power of flying”),^[5][1] from Proto-Germanic *flukhtiz,^[5][1] from the weak grade of the source of flēogan (“to fly”),^[1][3] said by Watkins to be from Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to flow”).^[5] It is related to Dutch vlucht “flight of birds” and German Flug.^[5][3] The spelling flight is first found in Chaucer, about 1385,^[1] as in fight.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of flying through the air with wings: before 900.^[6][1]

Semantic evolution

Swift movement in general, as of an arrow, is from the mid-13th century,^[5][6] and a flock of birds or a number of things passing through the air together from the 13th century.^[5][3] A volley of missiles is from the 16th century.^[3] A series of stairs between landings is by 1703.^[5] Figuratively, an excursion of fancy or imagination is from the 1660s.^[5] Travel in an aircraft or spacecraft is from 1784, and a single journey, originally by balloon, from 1785.^[6][5] An RAF unit of five or six aircraft is from 1914.^[6] Flight attendant is from 1946.^[5] Flighty, first “swift” (1552), came to mean “fickle” in the 18th century.^[1][3]

Timeline

• before 900 – the act of flying.^[6][1]
• mid-13th century – swift movement.^[5]
• 1552 – flighty, swift.^[1]
• 1660s – a flight of fancy.^[5]
• 1703 – a flight of stairs.^[5]
• 1784 – travel by aircraft.^[6]
• 1785 – a single journey by air.^[6][5]
• 1946 – flight attendant.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or manner of flying; the ability to fly.
2. A journey by air, especially a scheduled one by an airline.
3. Movement through the air or space, as of a projectile.
4. A group of birds or aircraft flying together.
5. A series of stairs between two floors or landings.
6. An imaginative or extravagant excursion: a flight of fancy.

Verb

1. Of birds, to fly in flocks.

Word family

• flighty
• flightless
• flight attendant
• flight deck

flight² fleeing

Etymology

The act of fleeing is inherited from Middle English fluht, fliht,^[1][2] not found in Old English, though probably existing there,^[1][5] from Proto-Germanic *flugti-,^[5] from the source of flēon (“to flee”).^[1][3] It is cognate with Old Frisian flecht, Old Saxon and Old High German fluht, Dutch vlucht, German Flucht, Old Norse flótti and Gothic þlauhs.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of running away: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[1] about 1200 in Etymonline and in the Ormulum.^[5][1]

Semantic evolution

Put to flight, “to rout”, is from the late 14th century, replacing the early 13th-century do o' flight.^[5] Take flight and flight of capital, money moved abroad for safety, extend the same sense.^[7][8]

Timeline

• before 1200 – the act of fleeing.^[1]
• late 14th century – put to flight.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of running away; an escape: take flight.

Related words

• fly
• flee
• fleet
• flow

Usage notes

A third flight, a flake of snow or a snowstorm, is a dialect variant of flaught from the late 15th century.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press