# flask

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈflɑːsk/ · frequency rank #22,379

## Definitions
1. A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc.
2. A container used to discreetly carry a small amount of a hard alcoholic beverage; a pocket flask.
3. Laboratory glassware used to hold larger volumes than test tubes, normally having a narrow mouth of a standard size which widens to a flat or spherical base.
4. A container for holding a casting mold, especially for sand casting molds.
5. A bed in a gun carriage.
6. A nuclear flask, a large, secure lead-lined container for the transport of nuclear material.
7. A small bottle of liquor.

## Etymology
From Middle English flask, flaske (“case, cask, keg”), from Old English flasce, flaxe (“bottle, flask”) and Medieval Latin flascō (“bottle”); from Frankish *flaskā; both from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“braid-covered bottle, wicker-enclosed jug”), from Proto-Indo-European *ploḱ-skō (“flat”), or from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to weave”). Doublet of fiasco, flacon, and flagon.
Related to Dutch fles; also German Low German Flaske, Fless, German Flasche, Danish flaske; also Lithuanian plókščias, Czech ploský, Albanian flashkët.
The sense “laboratory glassware” is from Italian fiasco, and the sense “container for holding a casting mold” is from Middle French flasque (“powder flask”), itself from Old Spanish flasco, frasco, both from Late Latin above.

## Easily confused with
- **flat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flat)
- **flaw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flaw)
- **flax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flax)
- **frank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-frank)
- **flesh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flesh)
- **flush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flush)
- **flock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flock)
- **flick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flick)
- **floss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-floss)
- **fleas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-fleas)
- **frisk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-frisk)
- **fleck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-fleck)
- **flasks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flask-vs-flasks)
- **FLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fla-vs-flask)
- **fas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fas-vs-flask)
- **fast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fast-vs-flask)
- **flag** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flag-vs-flask)
- **flap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flap-vs-flask)
- **Faso** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faso-vs-flask)
- **flak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flak-vs-flask)

## Common misspellings (8)
`falsk`, `fflask`, `flaks`, `flaskk`, `flassk`, `fllask`, `flsak`, `lfask`

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