flour

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /flaʊə/, US /flaʊɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is a special use of Middle English flur, flower,^[2][3][4] in the sense of the best or finest part, here the finest part of ground grain,^[2][4][5] as in flour of huete, “flower of wheat” (1340), and French fleur de farine.^[2][4] The spelling flower was used for both words until the early 19th century.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The finest quality of meal, especially wheat: probably about 1225, in King Horn;^[2] about 1250 in the OED, the mid-13th century in Etymonline.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Whiteness was typified by flour from 1375.^[6] Any fine powder made by grinding is from the 14th century in Hoad, 1660 in the OED.^[3][6] The verb, to sprinkle with flour, is from the 1650s,^[4][6] and to grind grain into flour from 1828.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – flur, fine meal.^[2]
• 1340 – flour of wheat.^[2]
• 1650s – to flour (verb).^[4]
• early 19th century – flour and flower spelled apart.^[3][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A fine powder made by grinding and sifting the meal of a grain, especially wheat, used in baking.
2. Any similar finely ground substance, as of cassava or fish.

Verb

1. To cover or sprinkle with flour.
2. To grind grain into flour.

Word family

• floury
• flourless
• overflour
• unfloured
• bread flour
• flour beetle
• flour mill
• graham flour

Related words

• flower
• flora
• flourish
• meal

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press