Etymologically
Log in

flight

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 16:58. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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.

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