Etymograph

English

fluke

Unknown, perhaps dialectal.

The story

It seems to have originally referred to a lucky shot at billiards. Possibly connected to sense 3, referring to whales' use of flukes to move rapidly. Possibly derived from German Glück (‘luck, good fortune, happiness’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Another origin of fluke

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-‘flat, broad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flōkąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flōk‘flatfish’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flōc‘flatfish’
  5. Englishtodayfluke

Today it means

noun A lucky or improbable occurrence that could probably never be repeated.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fluke”. 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 / fluke

Shirt and support for this word