flien

Maltese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic فُلَان (fulān)

Maltese flien

Inherited from Arabic فُلَان (fulān).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /flɪːn/
Rhymes: -ɪːn

Noun

flien m (plural flejjen, feminine fliena)

(usually in the definite) so-and-so, that bloke; a placeholder for a person whose name one cannot or does not want to mention, as in the phrase; "wieħed flien".

Pronoun

flien

(with xi) somebody, anybody
Synonym: xi ħadd

Middle English

Alternative forms

fleȝhenn, flyyn, fleye, flye, fliȝe, flei, fley, flyen, fleen, flen

Etymology

From Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą. This verb is often conflated with fleen (“to flee”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈfliː(ə)n/, /ˈflei̯(ə)n/, /ˈfleːn/

Verb

flien (intransitive)

To fly; to travel in the air.
(of clouds, stars, etc.) To move in the sky.
To travel with alacrity or haste; to rush.
To shoot or burst; to move rapidly.
To fall or sink; to move rapidly down.
(figurative) To proliferate; to be disseminated.
(rare, of gamebirds) To attack one's quarry or prey.

Conjugation

Conjugation of *flien* (strong class 2)
	present tense	past tense
infinitive	(to) flien, flie

1st-person singular	flie	fleigh, flow, flew
2nd-person singular	fliest	flowe¹, flewe¹
3rd-person singular	flieth	fleigh, flow, flew
subjunctive singular	flie	flowe², flewe²
imperative singular	flie	—

plural³	flien, flie	flowen, flowe, flewen, flewe
imperative plural	flieth, flie	—

participles	fliynge, fliende	flowen, flowe, yflowen, yflowe

¹ Later replaced by the 1st-/3rd-person singular or fleighest, flowest, flewest.
² Later replaced by the indicative.
³ Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

English: fly
Scots: fle
Yola: vlee

References

“flīen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.