Why this word is great
FLINDER — [Noun, Verb] A minute, delicate fragment or splinter; also, a butterfly or moth. As a verb, to move with a light, fluttering, and flirtatious motion. From Middle English flendris, of North Germanic origin, related to Norwegian flindra, from Proto-Germanic *flintaz ("hard stone, flint"), from Proto-Indo-European *splind- ("to split, cleave"). Unlike a "shard"—a substantial, defined piece of something brittle—or a mere "flutter" of impersonal motion, a flinder is the diminutive of disintegration and a verb of whimsical, personal caprice. It is the pale sliver of birch bark caught under a thumbnail; the powder-winged moth beating its soft tattoo against a windowpane; the particular, dancing motion of one who moves not to arrive, but simply to be seen. To flinder is to be both the fragile piece and the fragile flight—a reminder that what breaks us and what lifts us are often born of the same, splintering force.