fly

A1 Topic:Verbs of Movement

Also spelled flyin

US /flaɪ/ UK [flaɪ] See IPA manual

Freq #952

Meanings

1

verb
To travel through the air, as a bird or aircraft does.

Birds fly south for the winter.
2

verb
To travel somewhere by plane.

They are flying to New York tonight.
3

verb
To make something move or float through the air.

The children love to fly their kites on the beach.
4

noun
The opening at the front of a pair of trousers, closed with a zip or buttons.

He was embarrassed to find that his fly was open.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

4 noun · the opening at the front of... fly front

More abscond flee flit rush zoom

Opposites

remain stay walk

Word family

Forms flewfliedfliesflown

Derived forms aflyalderflyantiflyawl-flybeetflybeflyblind-flybobflybottleflybreezeflybull-flycatchfly

Related forms flight

From Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (*plew-k-, “to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Compare Etymology 1. See also Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve, Norwegian Nynorsk flyga; also Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’). More at flee and flow.

flien Middle English flēogan Old English *fleugan Proto-West Germanic *fleuganą Proto-Germanic *plewk- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Verbs of Movement

External links

# fly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** verb, noun
**IPA (US):** /flaɪ/
**IPA (UK):** [flaɪ]
**Frequency rank:** 952

## Meanings
1. To travel through the air, as a bird or aircraft does.
2. To travel somewhere by plane.
3. To make something move or float through the air.
4. The opening at the front of a pair of trousers, closed with a zip or buttons.

## Examples
- Birds fly south for the winter.
- They are flying to New York tonight.
- The children love to fly their kites on the beach.
- He was embarrassed to find that his fly was open.

## Synonyms
- abscond
- flee
- flit
- rush
- zoom

## Antonyms
- remain
- stay
- walk

## Derived Forms
- afly
- alderfly
- antifly
- awl-fly
- beetfly
- befly
- blind-fly
- bobfly
- bottlefly
- breezefly
- bull-fly
- catchfly

## Related Forms
- flight

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: flien
- Root: flēogan
- Root: *fleugan
- Root: *fleuganą
- Root: *plewk-

## Etymology
From Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (*plew-k-, “to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Compare Etymology 1. See also Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve, Norwegian Nynorsk flyga; also Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’). More at flee and flow.

## AI Etymology
Fly comes from Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (*plew-k-, “to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Compare Etymology 1. See also Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve, Norwegian Nynorsk flyga; also Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’). More at flee and flow. In current use, the main senses are “To travel through the air, as a bird or aircraft does” and “To travel somewhere by plane”.

## Topics
- Verbs of Movement

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fly

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