# flake

> English word · Noun · IPA /fleɪk/ · frequency rank #22,087

## Definitions
1. A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything
2. A scale of a fish or similar animal
3. A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
4. A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.
5. A carnation with only two colours in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
6. A flat turn or tier of rope.
7. A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota.
8. A wire rack for drying fish.

## Etymology
From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

## Easily confused with
- **flat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flat)
- **flee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flee)
- **flaw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flaw)
- **flap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flap)
- **flax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flax)
- **flue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flue)
- **frame** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-frame)
- **flash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flash)
- **flame** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flame)
- **flank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flank)
- **flare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flare)
- **flute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flute)
- **flaps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flaps)
- **flask** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flask)
- **fluke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-fluke)
- **flaky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flaky)
- **flume** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flume)
- **flames** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flames)
- **flawed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flawed)
- **flakes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flake-vs-flakes)

## Common misspellings (7)
`falke`, `fflake`, `flaek`, `flakke`, `flkae`, `fllake`, `lfake`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/flake