flirt means flirtatious. It carries an Arena rating of 1345, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, flirt ranks #2,340 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,382 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,430 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words.
flirt is pronounced /flɜːt/.
Why “flirt” is a great word
A person who habitually engages in playful romantic or sexual overtures without serious intent. Of obscure origin, first attested in 1553 from the merger of Early Modern English words meaning 'to flick' and 'a giddy girl', likely related to similar onomatopoeic Germanic words. Unlike the coquet, who performs with artful calculation, or one who might merely dally with idle casualness, the flirt embodies a specific, active social signaling. It is the sudden flick of a fan across a crowded room, the deliberately ambiguous compliment, the light touch on the arm that lingers not a second too long—a self-contained art form whose only true goal is the exhilarating maintenance of the performance itself, fleeting as breath on glass, meant to warm but never burn.
Etymology
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
adj
- Flirtatious.“He had “large dark blue eyes, wide open, very coquet, very flirt in the way he looked at you.””
name
- A subvariant of the Omicron variant, scientifically known as KP.2 and KP.1.1.
noun
- A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion“several little flirts and vibrations”
- Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.“'Oooh, don't.' Lilly staggered behind the counter. 'Hangover from hell. We had a good time, I think. He's such a flirt though. He really fancied Midnight. Was sooo gutted that she was actually a straight man. Think it almost turned him celibate.'”
- An act of flirting.
- A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.“However, after a brief flirt with socialist realism , this method was abandoned and strict controls were removed after 1948. By the early 1950s, writers had earned the right to use any method and to experiment.”
- A brief shower (of rain or snow).“In the course of the month, there were three flirts of snow, […]”
- Russula vesca, an edible woodland mushroom.
verb
- To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling.“They flirt water in each other's faces.”
- To jeer at; to mock.“I am ashamed; I am scorned; I am flirted.”
- To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions.“Her skirt flirted around her knees like a flower petal.”
- To blurt out.“Chatterer flirted his tale in the saucy way he has, and his eyes twinkled.”
- To play at courtship; to talk with teasing affection, to insinuate sexual attraction in a playful (especially conversational) way.“Of course, the young people flirted, for that diversion is apparently irradicable even in the "best society".”
- To experiment, or tentatively engage, with; to become involved in passing with.“I've thrown away my reputation, self-respect, money, health and happiness through the use of drugs and alcohol; I can teach her how fragile a reputation is, how a fool and their money are soon parted, and how dangerous it is to flirt with drugs.”
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