Where does “flint” come from?
Flint comes from Middle English flint and flynt, from Old English flint, from Proto-Indo-European splind-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (s)plei-, a root meaning to split or spread.
flint (English): A hard, fine-grained quartz that fractures...
Definitions
- A hard, fine-grained quartz that fractures...
Ancestry of “flint”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | flint | Alternative form of flynt |
| 2 | Middle English | flynt | Any of a group of solid stones, especially... |
| 3 | Old English | flint | flint |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *flint | peddle |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | flintaz | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | splind- | to split, cleave; split |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)plei- | to split, splice; to divide, split, splice |