# flirt

> English word · Noun · IPA /flɜːt/ · frequency rank #14,539

## Definitions
1. A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
2. Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.
3. An act of flirting.
4. A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.
5. A brief shower (of rain or snow).
6. Russula 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.

## Easily confused with
- **fort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flirt-vs-fort)
- **flor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flirt-vs-flor)
- **float** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flirt-vs-float)
- **flora** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flirt-vs-flora)
- **flirty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flirt-vs-flirty)
- **fit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fit-vs-flirt)
- **fir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fir-vs-flirt)
- **fire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fire-vs-flirt)
- **fair** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fair-vs-flirt)
- **firm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/firm-vs-flirt)
- **flat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flat-vs-flirt)
- **flip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flip-vs-flirt)
- **fist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fist-vs-flirt)
- **fiat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fiat-vs-flirt)
- **fart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fart-vs-flirt)
- **Fait** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fait-vs-flirt)
- **first** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/first-vs-flirt)
- **fleet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fleet-vs-flirt)
- **flies** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/flies-vs-flirt)
- **fairy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fairy-vs-flirt)

## Common misspellings (8)
`fflirt`, `filrt`, `flirrt`, `flirtt`, `flitr`, `fllirt`, `flrit`, `lfirt`

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