different between flick vs blick

English

Etymology

Perhaps related to flicker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fl?k/

• Rhymes: -?k

  Homophone: flic

Noun

flick (plural flicks)

1. A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip.
2. (informal) A motion picture, movie, film; (in plural, usually preceded by "the") movie theater, cinema.

3. (fencing) A cut that lands with the point, often involving a whip of the foible of the blade to strike at a concealed target.
4. (tennis) A powerful underarm volley shot.
5. The act of pressing a place on a touch screen device.
6. A flitch.

7. A unit of time, equal to 1/705,600,000 of a second
8. (dated, slang) A chap or fellow; sometimes as a friendly term of address.
   • 1920, H. C. McNeile, Bulldog Drummond

     'All that I have, dear old flick, is yours for the asking. What can I do?'

Synonyms

• (short, quick movement) fillip (of the finger)
• (cinema) the pictures

Descendants

• ? Afrikaans: fliek

Translations

Verb

flick (third-person singular simple present flicks, present participle flicking, simple past and past participle flicked)

1. To move or hit (something) with a short, quick motion.

   • Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.

   • 1860, William Makepeace Thackeray, The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century and Charity and Humour

     the Queen, flicking the snuff off her sleeve […]

Derived terms

• flick knife
• flick off
• flick the bean

Related terms

• flicker

Translations

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fl?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Verb

flick

1. singular imperative of flicken

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From a merger two Middle English verbs, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *b?el- (“to shine”):

• blikken, blikien, bliken (“to shine gleam”, weak verb), from Old English blician, from Proto-Germanic *blik?n? (“to shine, sparkle”). Cognate with Dutch blikken (“to twinkle, turn pale”), German blicken (“to glance, look”), Swedish blicka (“to glance”), Icelandic blíka (“to shine, gleam”).
• bl?ken (strong verb), from Old English bl?can (“to shine, glitter, gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *bl?kan? (“to gleam, shine”). Cognate with West Frisian blike (“to appear”), Dutch blijken (“to appear”).

Cf. blike.

Verb

blick (third-person singular simple present blicks, present participle blicking, simple past and past participle blicked)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To shine; gleam.

Etymology 2

From German Blick (“look, glance, twinkle, flash”), from Middle High German blic, from Old High German blik, blich, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *blikiz (“shine, appearance, look”). Cognate with Dutch blik, Danish blik, Icelandic blik (“gleam, sheen”), Old English blice (“sheen, denuded site”).

Noun

blick (plural blicks)

1. The brightening or iridescence appearing on silver or gold at the end of the cupelling or refinishing process.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bl?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Verb

blick

1. singular imperative of blicken

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse blíkja, from Proto-Germanic *blik? (“look”), *bl?kan? (“to shine, gleam”).

Pronunciation

Noun

blick c

1. look (action of looking)
2. glance
3. gaze

Declension

Related terms

• inblick
• återblick
• blicka
• ögonblick