flock

B1 Topic:Animals

US /flɑk/ UK /flɒk/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like flak /æ/ vs /ɑ/

Freq #8249

Meanings

1

noun
A group of birds or sheep that stay together.

A flock of geese flew over the field.
2

verb
To go somewhere in large numbers.

People flocked to the cinema to see the new film.
3

noun
A large crowd of people.

A flock of fans waited outside the stadium.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

3 noun · a large crowd of people. crowd

More bunch gaggle horde host legion litter nest rabble swarm throng wake

Word family

Forms flockedflockingflocks

Derived forms flerdflockedflockerflockfulflocklessflocklikeflocklingflockmasterflockmateflockmealflockownerflockwise

Appears in

Proverbs (2)

See all

Etymology

From Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkōn-, *flukkan-, *fluksōn- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”).

flok Middle English floc Old French floccus la-lat *flokko frk *flukkōn- Proto-Germanic *plewk- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# flock

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /flɑk/
**IPA (UK):** /flɒk/
**Frequency rank:** 8249

## Meanings
1. A group of birds or sheep that stay together.
2. To go somewhere in large numbers.
3. A large crowd of people.

## Examples
- A flock of geese flew over the field.
- People flocked to the cinema to see the new film.
- A flock of fans waited outside the stadium.

## Synonyms
- bunch
- gaggle
- horde
- host
- legion
- litter
- nest
- rabble
- swarm
- throng
- wake

## Derived Forms
- flerd
- flocked
- flocker
- flockful
- flockless
- flocklike
- flockling
- flockmaster
- flockmate
- flockmeal
- flockowner
- flockwise

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: flok
- Root: floc
- Root: floccus
- Root: *flokko
- Root: *flukkōn-
- Root: *plewk-

## Etymology
From Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkōn-, *flukkan-, *fluksōn- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”).

## AI Etymology
Flock comes from Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkōn-, *flukkan-, *fluksōn- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”). In current use, the main senses are “A group of birds or sheep that stay together” and “To go somewhere in large numbers”.

## Topics
- Animals

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