English
flight
Flight comes from Middle English flight, from Old English flyht, from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti, derived from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą ‘to fly’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plewk-1‘to fly’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fleuganą1‘to fly’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fluhti1‘flight’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flyht1‘flight’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flight1
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598flight1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English flight
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Baſſ. In my ſchoole dayes, when I had loſt…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plewk-Wiktionary, English flight‘to fly’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fleuganąWiktionary, English flight‘to fly’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fluhtiWiktionary, English flight‘flight’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flyhtWiktionary, English flight‘flight’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flightWiktionary, English flight
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598flightWiktionary, English flight. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Baſſ. In my ſchoole dayes, when I had loſt…”
A compound of *plew- ‘to fly, flow, run’ + *plewk- ‘to fly, flow, run’
Proto-Indo-European *plew- ‘to fly, flow, run’
Proto-Indo-European *plew- ‘to fly, flow, run’
Proto-Indo-European *plewk- ‘to fly, flow, run’
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with flight, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Germanic *fleuganą ‘to fly’
5 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of flight
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fluhtireconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flyht
- Englishtodayflight
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Today it means
noun The act of flying; the ability to fly.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “flight”. 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 *plewk- / flight