flotsam

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   floating wreckage, cargo, or other debris from a ship

   After the storm, pieces of flotsam drifted into the harbor.

2. 2
   noun

   people or things left unwanted or displaced by events

   The station sheltered the human flotsam of the collapsing empire.

From Anglo-Norman floteson, 'a floating,' based on Old French floter, 'to float,' with a suffix descended from Latin -atio. In maritime law, flotsam was wreckage found floating after a shipwreck, contrasted with jetsam, material deliberately thrown overboard.

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