Meaning
a quarrel, dispute, wrangling.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
From Middle English flyt, flit, iflit, ȝeflit, from Old English flit, ġeflit (“strife, contention”), from Proto-West Germanic *flit n; related to Proto-West Germanic *flīt m, from Proto-Germanic *flītaz (“zeal, striving, diligence”). The term in Old English had a short vowel, so the long vowel in the modern term was likely influenced by the verb (see below). Cognate with Scots flyte (“scolding, chiding, reproof”), Saterland Frisian Fliet (“zeal, diligence”), Dutch vlijt (“zeal, diligence”), German Low German Fliet (“zeal, diligence”), German Fleiß (“zeal, diligence”), Danish flid (“zeal, diligence”), Swedish flit (“zeal, diligence”).
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2026.