Etymologically
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flood

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 03:59. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /flʌd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English flod, inherited from Old English flōd (“a flowing of water, tide, deluge”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *flōduz,[2][3][4] which also gave Old Norse flóð, Dutch vloed, German Flut and Gothic flōdus,[2][3] from a suffixed form of PIE Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to flow”), the source of flow.[2][3][5] Barnhart notes that its vowel developed as in blood, and early modern English often wrote floud.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flowing of water, in Beowulf about 725 in Barnhart;[3] a river or stream is from about 825 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

The incoming tide, as in ebb and flood, and water as opposed to land are from before 1000.[6] An overflowing of water onto dry land, and Noah's Flood, are from about 1000.[6][2] A violent outpouring is from about 1205, and the figurative sense, a great quantity or sudden abundance, from the mid-14th century.[6][2] The verb, to overflow, is from 1663, and to rise in flood from 1755.[3][2] Floodgate is from about 1440, flood plain from 1873, and floodlight from the 1920s.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – a flowing of water.[3]
  • c. 825 – a river.[6]
  • c. 1000 – an inundation, and Noah's Flood.[6]
  • mid-14th century – a great quantity.[2]
  • c. 1440 – floodgate.[3]
  • 1663 – the verb.[3]
  • 1873 – flood plain.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An overflow of water onto land that is usually dry.
  2. A great outpouring: a flood of tears.
  3. The incoming tide.
  4. (the Flood) The great flood described in Genesis.

Verb

  1. To cover or become covered with water.
  2. To arrive or fill in great numbers.

Word family

  • flooder
  • floodable
  • floodless
  • floodlike
  • floodgate
  • floodplain
  • waterflood
  • photoflood
  • flow
  • floodlight
  • fluid
  • pluvial

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press