flite

Forms of flite

Origin of flite

From Middle English flyt, flit, iflit, ȝeflit, from Old English flit, ġeflit (“strife, contention”), from Proto-West Germanic *flit n; related to Proto-West Germanic *flīt m, from Proto-Germanic *flītaz (“zeal, striving, diligence”). The term in Old English had a short vowel, so the long vowel in the modern term was likely influenced by the verb (see below). Cognate with Scots flyte (“scolding, chiding, reproof”), Saterland Frisian Fliet (“zeal, diligence”), Dutch vlijt (“zeal, diligence”), German Low German Fliet (“zeal, diligence”), German Fleiß (“zeal, diligence”), Danish flid (“zeal, diligence”), Swedish flit (“zeal, diligence”).

From Middle English flyten (“to argue, quarrel”), from Old English flītan (“to strive, contend”), from Proto-West Germanic *flītan (“to strive, contend”). Akin to German befleissen (“to apply oneself diligently, endeavor”), Swedish beflita (“to apply to, study”), Norwegian Bokmål beflitte (“to endeavour, strive”).

Related words

• flyting

Words that rhyme with flite

• bright
• tight
• flight
• light
• white
• bite
• kite
• right
• wright
• quite
• requite
• write

Questions about flite

What does flite mean?

Flite means a quarrel, dispute, wrangling.

What part of speech is flite?

Flite can be a noun or a verb.

What is the plural of flite?

The plural of flite is flites.