flor

Borrowed from Spanish flor. Doublet of fleur, flour, and flower.

flor (countable and uncountable, plural flors)

1. A film of yeast that develops on the surface of some wines during fermentation, induced deliberately during the production of sherry.

• ROFL, Rolf, rolf

Inherited from Latin flōrem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈflo(ɾ)/
• Syllabification: flor
• Rhymes: -o(ɾ)

flor f (plural flors)

1. flower

Inherited from Latin flōrem, showing a conservative treatment of Latin /fl-/.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfloɾ/ [ˈfloɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: flor

flor f (plural flores)

1. flower

Inherited from Latin flōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈflɔ]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈflɔɾ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: flor

flor f (plural flors)

1. flower

   una flor no fa estiu ― an isolated object or fact cannot be taken as a norm or general rule (a proverb, literally one single flower does not bring summer)

• “flor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “flor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “flor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “flor”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Borrowed from German Flor (“flowering, bloom”).

• Rhymes: -oːɐ̯

flor n (singular definite floret, not used in plural form)

1. bloom (state of plants)
   • 1912, Jeppe Aakjær, Skrifter i folkeudgave: Samlede digte I-III: [v. 2] Bag hjemmets gavl. [v. 3] Rugens sange:

     ... nu er Timianen visnet, men Ruden i Flor.

     ... now the thyme has withered, but the rue blossoms.

   • 2014, Lars Thomassen, Vogteren: Juleeventyr i 24 kapitler. LÆS HØJT FOR DINE BØRN..., Lars Thomassen, →ISBN, page 85:

     ... en blomst i fuldt flor.

     ... a flower in full blossom.

   • 2013, Siri Hustvedt, At leve / at tænke / at se, Lindhardt og Ringhof, →ISBN:

     ... amaryllis i fuldt flor, ...

     ... amaryllis in full bloom, ...

2. (figuratively) bloom
   • 1821, Christian Molbech, Reise giennem en Deel af Tydskland, Frankrige, England og Italien i Aarene 1819 og 1820, page 49:

     Men at den ypperste Samling af Konstskatte, at en Samling som Musée Napoleon allene, eller endog i Forening med den højeste Liberalitet hos Regieringen og med fortræffeligt indrettede Skoler og Academier, ikke er nok for at bringe Konsten i Flor: derpaa troer jeg, at Frankrige netop giver et talende Exempel.

     But that the most exquisite collection of art treasures, that a collection which only Musée Napoleon, or, for that matter, in union with the highest liberality in the government and with the most excellently designed schools and academies is not sufficient to bring art to blossom: I think France provides a telling example to that effect.

   • 1771, De Forandringer, som Norge haver voeret underkastet baade i verdslige og geistlige Sager. Extraheret af Torfaei Chronico Rerum Norvegicarum, page 9:

     Da han nu saaledes havde bragt sit Rige i Flor, pønsede han endnu paa noget, som var større.

     Having thus brought his kingdom to blossom, he yet contrived to bring about a greater deed.

   • 1771, Kiøbenhavns kongel. privilegerede Adresse-Contoirs nye kritisk Journal, page 343:

     Den tredie Bog indeholder de for nærværende Tiid i Flor staaende Asiatiske, Afrikanske og Amerikanske Stater.

     The third book contains the currently blossoming Asian, African and American states.

3. bloom (flowers)
   • 2004, Historiske roser, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN, page 211:

     ... et stort espalier eller pergola hvor den med sit blanke, bronzeglinsende løv og det rige flor er et imponerende skue.

     ... a large espalier or pergola where, with its shiny, bronze-gleaming leaves and rich bloom, it is an impressive sight.

• “flor” in Den Danske Ordbog

• flou (Old Dauphinois)
• flor (Savoyard)

flor (ORB, narrow)

1. alternative form of fllor (“flower”)

• Stich, Dominique (2001) Francoprovençal: Proposition d'une orthographe supra-dialectale standardisée (Thesis)‎^[1], University of Paris, page 358
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “flōs”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 3: D–F, page 630

• fror, frol, chor

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese flor, a learned borrowing from Latin flos, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃s, from *bʰleh₃- + *-s. The variant chor shows the expected phonetic evolution of Latin /fl-/. Compare Portuguese flor.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfloɾ/ [ˈfloɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: flor

flor f (plural flores)

1. flower (structure or plant)
2. (figurative) best, finest, pick
3. film (solid or opaque layer on a liquid)

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “flor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “flor”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “flor”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

• “flor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “flor”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

flor (plural flores)

1. flower

From Portuguese flor.

flor

1. flower

flor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of flō

From Old English flōr, from Proto-West Germanic *flōru, *flōr, from Proto-Germanic *flōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂ros.

• flore, flur, flour, floor, vlor, floour

• IPA^(key): /floːr/

flor (plural flores)

1. floor (bottom surface of a room or building)
2. floor (level or story of a building)
3. A flat area or platform (often for preparation)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[2], published c. 1410, Matheu 3:12, folio 2, recto, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     whos wynewing cloþ is in his hond .· ⁊ he ſchal fulli clenſe his coꝛn flooꝛ / and he ſchal gadere his wheete in to his berne .· but þe chaf he ſchal bꝛenne wiþ fier þat mai not be quenchid

     His winnowing fan is in his hand; he'll fully clean his threshing-floor, he'll gather up his wheat into his barn, and he'll burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

4. The surface of the earth, especially when flat; a plain.
5. (rare) The substructure or support of a building.
6. (rare) The bottom of one's eyelid or eyelash.

• English: floor
• Scots: flure, fluir, flair, fleur, fleer

• “flọ̄r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 August 2019.

flor

1. alternative form of flour

• flour (Mistralian spelling)

From Old Occitan flor, from Latin flōrem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈflu/
• (País mentonasc) IPA^(key): /ˈfju/
• (Roiasc) IPA^(key): /ˈʃuː/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

flor f (plural flors)

1. flower

From Proto-West Germanic *flōr, from Proto-Germanic *flōruz, u-stem variant of Proto-Germanic *flōraz (“ground, floor”).

• IPA^(key): /floːr/
• Rhymes: -oːr

flōr f

1. (of a building) pavement, floor
   • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

     Æfter ðisum ġebede, hē ābād on ðām leġere āne fēawa dagas, mid fefore ġewǣht, þurh wacolon ġebedum, on flōre liċġende, bestrēowod mid axum, on stīðre hǣran, upāhafenum ēagum and handum tō heofenum, and ne ġeswāc his ġebeda ōðþæt hē sāwlode.

     After this prayer, he remained in sickness for a few days, weakened by fever, in watchful prayer, lying on the floor, bestrewn with ashes, on stiff sackcloth, with eyes and hands turned up toward heaven, and he did not stop his prayers until he passed away.

2. (of a ship) floor, deck; gangplank

Strong u-stem:

Often it occurs as an ō-stem: Strong ō-stem:

• Middle English: flor
  • English: floor
  • Scots: flair, fluir

• fleur, flour, flur

From Latin flōrem, accusative singular of flōs, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“flower, blossom”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfluɾ/
• Rhymes: -ur

flor oblique singular, f (oblique plural flors, nominative singular flors, nominative plural flors)

1. flower

• fror, frol
• *chor

Learned borrowing from Latin flōrem. The phonetically regular outcome of Latin /fl-/ is reflected in the apparently unattested *chor, which can nevertheless be reconstructed from the descendants below.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfloɾ/
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: flor

flor f (plural flores)

1. flower
   • 13th century, King Denis of Portugal, Ai flores, ai flores do verde pino; republished as Angelo Colocci, compiler, Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, Italy, c. 1525–1526, cantiga 568:

     Ay flores ay flores do uerde Pyno

     Oh flowers, oh flowers of the green pine

• Fala: flor
• Galician: flor
• Portuguese: flor (see there for further descendants)

• Ferreiro, Manuel (2014–2026), “frol ~ flor ~ fror”, in Universo Cantigas: edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa [Universo Cantigas: critical edition of Galician-Portuguese medieval poetry] (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “flor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “flor”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Inherited from Latin flōrem.

• IPA^(key): /fluɾ/

flor f (oblique plural flors, nominative singular flor, nominative plural flors)

1. flower

• Gascon: hlor, ⇒ ehlor, eslor
• Occitan: flor

From Portuguese flor and Spanish flor and Kabuverdianu flor.

flor

1. flower

• chor (archaic, Minho, Trás-os-Montes)
• fror, frol (archaic or dialectal)
• flôr (obsolete)
• fulô (Northeast Brazil, pronunciation spelling)

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese flor, a learned borrowing from Latin flos, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃s, from *bʰleh₃- + *-s.

Compare Galician flor, chor.

• Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -oɾ, (Brazil) -oʁ
• Hyphenation: flor

flor f (plural flores)

1. flower

   Synonym: (Mozambique) xiluva

   • 1595, Luís Vaz de Camões, Rimas, Num bosque que das Ninfas se habitava:

     As amarellas flores apanhaua

     The yellow flowers there was gathering

2. (figuratively) a delicate, feminine woman or girl
3. surface

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:flor.

• Kabuverdianu: flor
• Papiamentu: flor

• “flor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “flor”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026

• “flor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Possibly inherited from Latin flōrus but, since its rarity, it could also be an internal constuction.

• IPA^(key): /flor/

flor m or n (feminine singular floară, masculine plural flori, feminine/neuter plural floare)

1. (rare) blond, or with reddish-blond hair

   Synonyms: blond, roșcat

Inherited from Old Spanish flor, from Latin flōs (accusative flōrem). The retention of /fl/ is unusual and perhaps reflects some form of conservative tendency.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfloɾ/ [ˈfloɾ]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: flor

flor f (plural flores)

1. flower (structure in angiosperms)

   Synonyms: (poetic, Mexico, dialectal) xóchil, súchil

2. bloom, blossom (an expanded bud)
3. (figuratively) prime, pick

   Flor de harina. ― Finest flour.

   En la flor de la vida. ― In the prime of life.

4. virginity
5. (chiefly in the plural) compliment, flattery
6. (archaic) A globular buildup of carbon on the end of a wick.

   Synonym: hongo

   • 1915, Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, Mitos y Supersticiones Recogidos de la Tradición Oral Chilena, page 284:

     Cuando el pabilo de la vela no se quema bien, se forma en el extremo una excrecencia que se llama flor. El florecerse la vela es augurio de riqueza, próxima o remota.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

7. (Rioplatense) showerhead
8. (Honduras, Puerto Rico, Bolivia) Something excellent, magnificent, beautiful
9. (Guatemala, Nicaragua) gay man
10. (Guatemala) end of a split end

• → English: flor

• “flor”, 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
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “flor”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Borrowed from German Flor (“thin fabric, veil”)

flor n

1. thin, transparent fabric, like gauze (usually used as a veil)

• florsocker (“powdered sugar, icing sugar”)

• skir (“sheer”)

Borrowed from German Flor (“bloom, flowering”)

flor n

1. (in some expressions) flowering

• “flor”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “flor”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “flor”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Chemical element (edit)
F Atomic number 9 flor
Classification data Period 2 Group 17 Block p-block Class halogen
Previous: ← oksijen (O)
Next: neon (Ne) →

Borrowed from French fluor.

• IPA^(key): [floɾ]
• Hyphenation: flor

flor (definite accusative floru, plural florlar)

1. fluorine (chemical element)

flor (genitive flora, plural flors)

1. flower