fleece

C2+ Topic:Money & Finance

US /flis/ UK /fliːs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a sheep's woolly coat; also to swindle of money

Con artists fleeced the tourists at the market.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a sheep's woolly coat; also... wool coat swindle cheat defraud bilk con rob

Word family

Derived forms fleecyfleecerfleeceablefleeced

Related forms fleeceable

Etymology

From Old English flēos, flīes ('fleece, sheep's wool'), of West Germanic origin. The verb sense 'to swindle' (strip of money as one strips wool) developed in the 16th century.

flēos Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Money & Finance

External links

# fleece

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /flis/
**IPA (UK):** /fliːs/

## Meanings
1. a sheep's woolly coat; also to swindle of money

## Examples
- Con artists fleeced the tourists at the market.

## Synonyms
- wool
- coat
- swindle
- cheat
- defraud
- bilk
- con
- rob

## Derived Forms
- fleecy
- fleecer
- fleeceable
- fleeced

## Related Forms
- fleeceable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: flēos

## Etymology
From Old English flēos, flīes ('fleece, sheep's wool'), of West Germanic origin. The verb sense 'to swindle' (strip of money as one strips wool) developed in the 16th century.

## AI Etymology
Fleece comes from Old English flēos, flīes ('fleece, sheep's wool'), of West Germanic origin. The verb sense 'to swindle' (strip of money as one strips wool) developed in the 16th century. The development is chiefly inherited within English and its older relatives, with the later form continuing material already present in the language's ancestry. In present use, it is used as a noun and verb meaning "a sheep's woolly coat; also to swindle of money", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as fleecy, fleecer, fleeceable, and fleeced and related forms such as fleeceable, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old English flēos, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood includes wool, coat, swindle, and cheat, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Money & Finance

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