# flaw
## English
### Etymology 1

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”).
Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /flɔː/
* (US) IPA: /flɔ/
* (cot–caught merger) IPA: /flɑ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔː
* Homophone: floor (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

#### Noun

flaw (plural flaws)
* (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
* (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
* A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
    There is a flaw in that knife.
    That vase has a flaw.
** c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:This heart / Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws.
* A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
** 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
** (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
** (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.
    a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute

##### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:defect

##### Derived terms

* design flaw
* flawful
* flawless
* flawsome
* flawy
* Persian flaw
* tragic flaw

##### Translations
#### Verb

flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)
* (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
* (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā. Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga; all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (“blow, strike”). See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

#### Alternative forms

* flawe (obsolete)

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈflɔː/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔː

#### Noun

flaw (plural flaws)
* A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:And snow and haile and stormie gust and flaw
** 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 41:Yniol with that hard message went; it fell, / Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn: […]
* A storm of short duration.
* A sudden burst of noise and disorder
    Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel
** 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):And deluges of armies from the town / Come pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

“flaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### References

* ↑ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Flaw”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
* ↑ “flaw”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

### Anagrams

* AFLW, WLAF, WAFL, AFWL

## Sranan Tongo
### Verb

flaw
* To faint.