flam
/flæm/noun, verb
flam is spelled F-L-A-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 63,645th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, flam means “A freak or whim; an idle fancy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flam is flams.
How many letters and syllables are in flam?
| Letters | 4: F-L-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 63,645th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is flam?
Flam appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 63,645th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce flam?
- /flæm/
Flam has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-flam.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of flam
- flams plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- flamming participle, present
- flammed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flam mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A freak or whim; an idle fancy.
- 2
archaicA falsehood; a lie; an illusory pretext
all Pretences, or Pleas of Conscience, to the contrary, are nothing but Cant and Cheat, Flam and Delusion.
- 3
Two taps (a grace note followed by a full-volume tap) played very close together in order to sound like one slightly longer note.
verb
- 1
To play (notes as) a flam.
- 2
obsoleteTo deceive with a falsehood.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flam in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fla |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does flam come from?
17th century; from flim-flam, itself perhaps from a dialectal word or Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).