fleck

See also: Fleck, fléck, and Fléck

English

Etymology

From Middle English *flekk, *flekke (attested in Middle English flekked (“spotted, flecked”)), from Old Norse flekkr (“spot”), from Proto-Germanic *flekka-. Cognate with Dutch vlek, German Fleck, Swedish fläck.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flɛk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛk

Noun

fleck (plural flecks)

1. A flake.
   • 1675, William Rabisha, The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected, Taught and Fully:

     two flecks of Lard cut with your knife

2. A lock, as of wool.
   • 1861, Theodore Martin, The poems of Catullus, translated into English verse:

     With teeth they smooth their work, as on it slips,
     And flecks of wool stick to their wither'd lips

   • 2015, Graham Masterson, Eye for an Eye: A Katie Maguire Short Story:

     A single fleck of wool from his sock got caught on a splintery floorboard and that was enough to convict him.

3. A small spot or streak; a speckle.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto LI, page 74:

     So fret not, like an idle girl, / That life is dash'd with flecks of sin. / Abide: thy wealth is gathered in, / When Time hath sunder'd shell from pearl.

4. A small amount.

   a fleck of hope

   a fleck of imagination

Translations

flake — see flake

lock — see lock

small spot

• Bulgarian: петно (bg) n (petno), точица (bg) m (točica)
• Czech: skvrna (cs) f, flek (cs) m, flíček (cs) m, skvrnka f
• Dutch: spikkel (nl)
• Finnish: täplä (fi), pilkku (fi)
• French: tache (fr) f
• German: Fleck (de) m
• Italian: puntino (it) m
• Norwegian: flekk (no) m
• Portuguese: mancha (pt) f, pinta (pt) f
• Russian: кра́пинка (ru) f (krápinka), пятно́ (ru) n (pjatnó), пя́тнышко (ru) n (pjátnyško)
• Spanish: mota (es) f
• Swedish: fläck (sv) c

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

• French: ^{(please verify)} flocon (fr), ^{(please verify)} particule (fr) (1), ^{(please verify)} moucheture (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Tupfen (de)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} macchiolina (it) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} mota (es) f, ^{(please verify)} salpicadura (es) f

Verb

fleck (third-person singular simple present flecks, present participle flecking, simple past and past participle flecked)

1. (transitive) To mark (something) with small spots.

   Synonym: (obsolete) fleak

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 1989 December 17, Nan Donald, “Broken Hearts, Messed Up Families, And New Beginnings”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 9:

     The Names of the Moons of Mars is a frequently somber book, flecked through with optimism and humor.

Translations

to mark with small spots

• Bulgarian: изпъстрям (bg) (izpǎstrjam)
• Dutch: bespikkelen (nl), besprenkeln
• Finnish: täplittää (fi)
• French: moucheter (fr), tacheter (fr)
• Portuguese: manchar (pt)

Luxembourgish

Verb

fleck

1. second-person singular imperative of flecken