# flick

> English word · Noun · IPA /flɪk/ · frequency rank #12,423

## Definitions
1. A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip.
2. A motion picture, movie, film; (in plural, usually preceded by "the") movie theater, cinema.
3. A cut that lands with the point, often involving a whip of the foible of the blade to strike at a concealed target.
4. A powerful underarm volley shot.
5. The act of pressing a place on a touch screen device.
6. A flitch.
7. A unit of time, equal to 1/705,600,000 of a second
8. A chap or fellow; sometimes as a friendly term of address.
9. A photo.

## Etymology
From Middle English flykke (“light blow or stroke”). Later uses apparently interpreted as a back-formation from flicker.
The use of flick to mean a film or movie derives from the fact that early films had a low frame rate, thus causing the film to "flick" rapidly when projected onto a screen.

## Easily confused with
- **fuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-fuck)
- **flip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flip)
- **flies** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flies)
- **flint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flint)
- **flock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flock)
- **flirt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flirt)
- **fling** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-fling)
- **flips** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flips)
- **frick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-frick)
- **flier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flier)
- **frisk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-frisk)
- **frock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-frock)
- **folic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-folic)
- **Flickr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flickr)
- **flicks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flicks)
- **flocks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flocks)
- **flinch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flinch)
- **flicker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flicker)
- **flicked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flick-vs-flicked)
- **fic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fic-vs-flick)

## Common misspellings (8)
`fflick`, `filck`, `flcik`, `flicck`, `flickk`, `flikc`, `fllick`, `lfick`

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