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flake

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A scale of a fish or similar animal.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

flayk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfleɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A scale of a fish or similar animal

  2. A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything

  3. A wire rack for drying fish.

  4. A platform of hurdles, or small sticks made fast or interwoven, supported by stanchions, for drying codfish and other things.

  5. A flat turn or tier of rope.

  6. informal

    A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.

verb

  1. colloquial

    To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through.

  2. irelandslang

    To hit (another person).

  3. To break or chip off in a flake.

  4. To lay out on a flake for drying.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A scale of a fish or similar animal

Used this way, flake is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use flake

  • “The substances started to flake.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Platform

gold flake

Carnation

corn flakelarge flake

Other combinations

snow flakeflake toolsmall flakeflake graphiteflint flake

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • flakyadjectiveDerived adjective

    Made of or resembling flakes.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • flake offverbCompound term

    Come off in flakes or thin small pieces.

  • flake outverbCompound term

    Change from a waking to a sleeping state.

  • soap flakesnounCompound term

    Soap that has been cut into flakes to make suds faster.

  • bran flakenounCompound term

    Wheat flake including the bran.

  • corn flakenounCompound term

    Crisp flake made from corn.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.