flaw

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”).

Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /flɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /flɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /flɑ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: floor (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.

   There is a flaw in that knife.

   That vase has a flaw.

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     This heart / Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws.

4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?

   1. (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
   2. (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.

      a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Derived terms

• design flaw
• flawful
• flawless
• flawsome
• Persian flaw
• tragic flaw

Translations

crack or breach

Bulgarian: пукнатина (bg) f (puknatina), цепнатина (bg) f (cepnatina) Chinese: Mandarin: 疵 (zh) (cī) Danish: defekt (da) c, fejl (da) c, skønshedsfejl c (minor) Estonian: mõra Finnish: rako (fi) French: défaut (fr) m, fissure (fr) f Galician: fenda (gl) f, brecha f German: Sprung (de) m, Riss (de) m, Absplitterung f (chipping), Schaden (de) m Hungarian: repedés (hu) Italian: fessura (it) f, cricca (it) f, crepa (it) f Japanese: ひび (ja) (hibi) Norwegian: Bokmål: feil (no) m, brist m, skavank (no) m Occitan: deca (oc) f, brèca (oc) f, bèrca (oc) f Portuguese: falha (pt) f, defeito (pt) m Romanian: spărtură (ro) f, fisură (ro) f, încălcare (ro) f Russian: тре́щина (ru) f (tréščina), щель (ru) f (ščelʹ), поро́к (ru) m (porók) Slovak: prasklina f, škára f Spanish: falla (es) Swedish: spricka (sv), skavank (sv) Turkish: çatlak (tr), çizik (tr)

defect, fault

Arabic: عَيْبٌ (ʕaybun) Armenian: արատ (hy) (arat) Azerbaijani: qüsur (az), nöqsan (az), kəsir, naqislik Bulgarian: недостатък (bg) m (nedostatǎk), дефект (bg) m (defekt) Chinese: Mandarin: 瑕疵 (zh) (xiácī), 毛病 (zh) (máobìng) Crimean Tatar: brak Czech: vada (cs) Danish: defekt (da) c, fejl (da) c Esperanto: difekto, manko Estonian: viga, puudus Finnish: virhe (fi), vika (fi) French: faille (fr) f Galician: eiva (gl) f, falla f German: Makel (de) m, Fehler (de) m, Macke (de) f (slang), Schwachstelle (de) f (in an idea), Schlupfloch (de) n (in law or contract) Greek: Ancient Greek: ψόγος m (psógos) Hungarian: hiba (hu), hiányosság (hu) Irish: fabht m, locht m Italian: difetto (it) m, errore (it) m, imperfezione (it) f Japanese: 欠点 (ja) (kekkan), 瑕疵 (ja) (kashi) Korean: 결점 (ko) (gyeoljeom) Latin: vitium n Macedonian: мана f (mana), фалинка f (falinka) Maori: tōrōkiri Middle English: chalenge Norwegian: Bokmål: feil (no) m, brist m, brist m Occitan: manca (oc) f, deca (oc) f, sin (oc) m, peca f, defaut (oc) m, taca (oc) f Polish: wada (pl) f Portuguese: falha (pt) f, defeito (pt) m, erro (pt) m Romanian: cusur (ro) n, defect (ro) n, hibă (ro) f Russian: изъя́н (ru) m (izʺján), недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok), поро́к (ru) m (porók), брак (ru) m (brak), дефе́кт (ru) m (defékt) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: мана f Roman: mana (sh) f Slovak: vada f, závada f, chyba f Slovene: napaka (sl), pomanjkljivost, razpoka (sl) Spanish: imperfección (es), desperfecto (es), pega (es) f Swedish: fel (sv), brist (sv) Turkish: hata (tr), kusur (tr) Ukrainian: вада (uk) (vada)

defect in a gemstone

French: crapaud (fr) m German: Makel (de) m Italian: imperfezione (it) f, difetto (it) m Spanish: defecto (es) m

Verb

flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)

1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.

Translations

to add a flaw to

Bulgarian: пуквам (bg) (pukvam), разцепвам (bg) (razcepvam) German: beschädigen (de), verschlechtern (de) Hungarian: elront (hu) Russian: по́ртить (ru) impf (pórtitʹ), испо́ртить (ru) pf (ispórtitʹ), поврежда́ть (ru) impf (povreždátʹ), повреди́ть (ru) pf (povredítʹ)

to become imperfect

Bulgarian: повреждам се (povreždam se) German: Schaden nehmen, sich verschlechtern Hungarian: elromlik (hu) Russian: поврежда́ться (ru) impf (povreždátʹsja), повреди́ться (ru) pf (povredítʹsja)

Etymology 2

From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā.^[1] Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga;^[2] all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (“blow, strike”). See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

Alternative forms

• flawe (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɔː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     And snow and haile and stormie gust and flaw

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 41:

     Yniol with that hard message went; it fell, / Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn: […]

2. A storm of short duration.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder

   Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel

   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     And deluges of armies from the town / Come pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.

Translations

burst of wind

Bulgarian: шквал m (škval) French: bourrasque (fr) f German: Windbö f, Windstoß (de) m, Bö (de) f Russian: шквал (ru) m (škval), поры́в ве́тра m (porýv vétra)

burst of noise

French: tumulte (fr) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Slovene: (please verify) napaka (sl), (please verify) pomanjkljivost, (please verify) spodrsljaj

Further reading

“flaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
2. “flaw”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• AFLW, WLAF, WAFL, AFWL

Sranan Tongo

Verb

flaw

1. To faint.