flote

See also: floté, flòte, flöte, Flöte, and fløte

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fləʊt/
• Rhymes: -əʊt
• Homophone: float

Etymology 1

Verb

flote

1. simple past of flite.

Etymology 2

Compare French flot, Latin fluctus; also compare float (noun).

Noun

flote (plural flotes)

1. (obsolete) A wave.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4:

     Ar. […] and for the reſt o'th' Fleet
     (Which I diſpers'd) they all haue met againe,
     And are vpon the Mediterranean Flote
     Bound ſadly home for Naples,
     Suppoſing that they ſaw the Kings ſhip wrackt,
     And his great perſon periſh.

Translations

a wave

Russian: волна́ (ru) f (volná)

Etymology 3

Verb

flote (third-person singular simple present flotes, present participle floting, simple past and past participle floted)

1. To fleet; to skim.
   • 1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC:

     seald their Milk before they flote it

Anagrams

• TOEFL

Dutch

Verb

flote

1. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of fluiten

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

flote

1. alternative form of flouter

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English flota (“ship, fleet”), from Proto-Germanic *flutô, with semantic broadening from the conflated flete homonyms and Old English flot (from Proto-Germanic *flutą (“body of water”)), and semantic loan from Old French flote (cognate wth Old English flota).

Alternative forms

• floote, fflote, flot

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɔːt(ə)/

Noun

flote (plural flotes)

2. Something that floats; a float or boat.
3. A fleet; a collection or grouping of vessels.
4. A group, band or mass of soldiers or fighters.
5. The condition of floating; flotation.
6. (rare) A mass or group of animals.
7. (rare) A body of water or mass of liquid.

Related terms

• floten

Descendants

• English: float
• Scots: flote, flot

References

• “flōte, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 October 2018.

Etymology 3

Verb

flote

1. alternative form of floten

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flo(ː)tə/, /fɽo(ː)tə/
• Rhymes: -oːtə
• Hyphenation: flò‧te

Etymology 1

From Old Norse floti.

Alternative forms

• flåte (alternative spelling)
• flota, flåtå (dialectal)

Noun

flote m (definite singular floten, indefinite plural flotar, definite plural flotane)

1. raft
2. fleet
3. big man

Derived terms

• fiskeflote
• handelsflote
• krigsflote
• redningsflote

Etymology 2

Verb

flote

1. past participle of flyta

Old French

Etymology

Germanic, compare English float.

Noun

flote oblique singular, f (oblique plural flotes, nominative singular flote, nominative plural flotes)

1. fleet (collection of several watercraft)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈflote]

Noun

flote f

1. inflection of flotă:
   1. indefinite plural
   2. indefinite genitive/dative singular

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflote/ [ˈflo.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ote
• Syllabification: flo‧te

Etymology 1

Deverbal from flotar.

Noun

flote m (plural flotes)

1. floatation (action and effect of floating)

   Synonyms: flotadura, flotación

Derived terms

• a flote (afloat)

Etymology 2

Verb

flote

1. inflection of flotar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “flote”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025