flirt
/flɜːt/
"flirt" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flirt” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,539 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,539
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | flirt |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /flɜːt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #14,539 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “flirt” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for flirt is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /flɜːt/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,539 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for flirt, with forms such as "fflirt", "filrt", and "flirrt". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fort", "flor", "float", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, comp… The correct English form is flirt, spelled F-L-I-R-T.
Definition
- 1A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
- 2Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.
- 3An act of flirting.
- 4A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.
- 5A brief shower (of rain or snow).
- 6Russula vesca, an edible woodland mushroom.
Etymology
1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fflirt,filrt,flirrt,flirtt,flitr,fllirt,flrit,lfirt
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of flirt - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "flirt"?
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Using “flirt”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-L-I-R-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /flɜːt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fort” - see the side-by-side comparison. flirt vs fort
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.