flint (English)

Where does "flint" come from?

The English noun flint descends from Middle English 'flynt'[1], which inherited the form from Old English 'flint'[1]. Going back further, the term traces through Proto-West Germanic '*flint'[1] and Proto-Germanic '*flintaz'[1]. Ultimately, these Germanic roots derive from the Proto-Indo-European base '*(s)plind-', meaning 'to split, cleave'[1], reflecting the natural tendency of the stone to fracture.

Open questions

The ultimate derivation from the Proto-Indo-European root meaning to split or cleave is a linguistic reconstruction rather than a directly attested form. [1] [4]

Full etymology tree

flint (English), 'A hard, fine-grained quartz that fractures conchoidally and generates sparks when struck against a material such as steel, because tiny chips of the steel are heated to incandescence and burn in air.'
- inherited flynt, flint (Middle English)
  - inherited flint (Old English), 'flint'
    - inherited *flint (Proto-West Germanic), 'peddle'
      - inherited *flintaz (Proto-Germanic)
        derived *(s)plind- (Proto-Indo-European)
        derived *(s)pley- (Proto-Indo-European)

Ancestors

flynt (Middle English)
flint (Old English)
*flint (Proto-West Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

πλίνθος (Ancient Greek)
slinn (Irish)

Descendants and derived words

eccentric flint (English)
fix someone's flint (English)
Flint (English)
flint corn (English)
flint disease (English)
flint-eyed (English)
flinthead (English)
flint-hearted (English)
flintify (English)
flintiness (English)
flintknapper (English)
flintknapping (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris