English
floe
Floe may come from Norwegian Nynorsk flo ‘layer, slab’.
- Norwegian Nynorskmodernflo‘layer, slab’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1989floe
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Norwegian Nynorskmodernflo‘layer, slab’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1989floe
Earliest quotation: 1989, Jeff MacInnis, Braving the Northwest Passage: “We could never pause when hauling through current-driven slush…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’
field, explain, plane, explanation, plain, floor, palm, clan, archipelago, explanatory, playa, placenta, planar, parma, fluke, palatine, esplanade, placate, plantar, implacable, pelagic, lech, flounder, veld, polonium, llano, flay, planta, purdah, 49 more
Today it means
noun A low, flat mass of floating ice.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Norwegian Nynorsk flo / floe