flirt

Meaning

Noun

1. A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
2. Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.
3. An act of flirting.
4. A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.
5. (dialectal) A brief shower (of rain or snow).
6. (with-definite-article) Russula vesca, an edible woodland mushroom.

Verb

1. (transitive) To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling.
2. (archaic, intransitive) To jeer at; to mock.
3. (intransitive) To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions.
4. (transitive) To blurt out.
5. (intransitive) To play at courtship; to talk with teasing affection, to insinuate sexual attraction in a playful (especially conversational) way.
6. (intransitive) To experiment, or tentatively engage, with; to become involved in passing with.

Adj

Flirtatious.

Synonyms

coquette

coquet

dally

philander

tease

flirtation

court

vamp

vamper

woo

chat up

toy

flirting

entice

flit

encircle

philanderer

make eyes at

prickteaser

play

romance

dalliance

toying

dart

🎯

butterfly

🦋

seduce

coquetry

permit oneself liberties

wave

👋

minx

mash

flutter

trifle

skirt chaser

sweet-talk

temptress

toss

yank

zoom

bind around

get acquainted

lead a dissolute life

make advances

promiscuous woman

frivolous person

be friendly

be licentious

be romantic

chat someone up

giggle mirthfully

Translations

flirter

😘

flirten

😘

flirtear

😘

flirtare

😘

coquetear

😘

voltiger

flirtejar

flirten

😘

wapperen

aan de scharrel zijn

fladderen

φλερτάρω

flirtar

😘

civetta

🦉

flirt

Pronounced as (IPA)

/flɜːt/

Etymology

Cognate with Low German: flirt

Cognate with Low German: flirtje

Cognate with German: Flittchen

Cognate with Norwegian: flira

Cognate with Middle English: flerd

Cognate with Scots: flird

Cognate with Icelandic: flærð

Cognate with Swedish: flärd

In summary

1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.