Etymograph

English

fleme

Fleme comes from Old English flȳman ‘to put to flight, drive away, banish’, from Proto-Germanic *flaumaz ‘stream’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plew- ‘to sail’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plew-1‘to sail’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flaumaz2‘stream’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150flēam3‘flight’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flȳman3‘to put to flight, drive away, banish’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flemen3
  6. Englishtodayfleme3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *flaumaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English fleam
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English fleme

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plew-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *flaumaz‘to sail’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flaumazWiktionary, Old English fleam‘stream’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150flēamWiktionary, English fleme‘flight’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flȳmanWiktionary, English fleme‘to put to flight, drive away, banish’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flemenWiktionary, English fleme
  6. EnglishtodayflemeWiktionary, English fleme

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *plew- ‘to sail’

fly, flow, pneumonia, flew, plutonium, plough, fowl, plover, flue, plutocracy, flay, 24 more

Today it means

verb To drive away, chase off; to banish.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fleme”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *flaumaz, Old English fleam. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *plew- / fleme

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