# flap

> English word · Noun · IPA /flæp/ · frequency rank #15,170

## Definitions
1. Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
2. A hinged leaf.
3. A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane, used to increase lift and drag.
4. A side fin of a ray.
5. The motion of anything broad and loose, or a sound or stroke made with it.
6. A controversy, scandal, stir, or upset.
7. A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound /ɾ/ in the standard American English pronunciation of body.
8. A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
9. The labia, the vulva.
10. A blow or slap (especially to the face).
11. A young prostitute.
12. A connected component of the induced subgraph formed by deleting a set of vertices.

## Etymology
From Middle English flap, flappe (“a slap; blow; buffet; fly-flap; something flexible or loose; flap”), related to Saterland Frisian Flappert (“wing, flipper”), Middle Dutch flabbe (“a blow; slap on the face; fly-flap; flap”) (modern Dutch flap (“flap”)), Middle Low German flabbe, vlabbe, flebbe, from the verb (see below). Related also to English flab and flabby.

## Easily confused with
- **FP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fp)
- **fly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fly)
- **flu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flu)
- **Flo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flo)
- **FSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fsa)
- **fra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fra)
- **FTP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-ftp)
- **FTA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fta)
- **flat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flat)
- **flow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flow)
- **flip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flip)
- **flew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flew)
- **fled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fled)
- **flee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flee)
- **foam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-foam)
- **flex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flex)
- **flaw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flaw)
- **flux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flux)
- **flop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flop)
- **Fran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-fran)

## Common misspellings (6)
`falp`, `fflap`, `flapp`, `fllap`, `flpa`, `lfap`

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