English
flux
Flux comes from Old French flux ‘diarrhea’, from Latin fluxus ‘flow’, and ultimately from fluō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluō‘flow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluxus‘flow’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400flux‘diarrhea’
- Englishearliest quotation 1670flux
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluō‘flow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluxus‘flow’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400flux‘diarrhea’
- Englishearliest quotation 1670flux
Earliest quotation: 1670, John Milton, The Sixth Book: “The next year vvas calamitous, bringing ſtrange fluxes upon…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to swell, blow’
blow, blast, inflation, bliss, flavor, bladder, feeble, inflate, blithely, blare, flatulence, blather, blasé, conflate, bleat, soufflé, 44 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti
through Latin fluō ‘flow’
influence, fluid, fluent, confluence, fluctuate, fluctuation, fluency, affluence, fluorine, flume, fluvial, fluorite, fluor, 27 more
Today it means
noun The act of flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing stream.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fluō / flux