different between tribe vs flock

English

Etymology

From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?a?b/
• Rhymes: -a?b

Noun

tribe (plural tribes)

1. A socially, ethnically, or politically cohesive group of people.
2. (anthropology) A society larger than a band but smaller than a state.
3. (zoology) A group of apes who live and work together.
4. (taxonomy) A hierarchal rank between family and genus.
5. The collective noun for various animals.
6. (stock breeding) A family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line.

Derived terms

• tribal
• tribally
• tribelet

Translations

Verb

tribe (third-person singular simple present tribes, present participle tribing, simple past and past participle tribed)

1. (transitive) To distribute into tribes or classes; to categorize.
   • 1696-1699, William Nicolson, English Historical Library

     Our fowl, fish, and quadruped are well tribed.

See also

• ethnic
• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• Berti, Breit, Tiber, biter, rebit

Middle English

Alternative forms

• trybe, tribu

Etymology

From Old French tribu, from Latin tribus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tri?b(?)/, /?tri?bu/

Noun

tribe (plural tribus)

1. One of the twelve tribes of Israel.
2. (rare) Any tribe or kin group.
3. (rare) A league or grouping.

Descendants

• English: tribe

References

• “tr?be, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-03.

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fl?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /fl?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English flock (“flock”), from Old English flocc (“flock, company, troop”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz, *flakka- (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with Middle Low German vlocke (“crowd, flock”), Old Norse flokkr (“crowd, troop, band, flock”). Perhaps related to Old English folc (“crowd, troop, band”). More at folk.

Noun

flock (plural flocks)

1. A number of birds together in a group, such as those gathered together for the purpose of migration.
2. A large number of animals associated together in a group; commonly used of various farmed animals, such as sheep and goats, but applied to a wide variety of animals.
3. Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.
4. A large number of people.

   Synonym: congregation

5. (Christianity) A religious congregation.

   Synonym: congregation

Synonyms

(large number of people):

• bunch, gaggle, horde, host, legion, litter, nest, rabble, swarm, throng, wake

Translations

Verb

flock (third-person singular simple present flocks, present participle flocking, simple past and past participle flocked)

1. (intransitive) To congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.

   People flocked to the cinema to see the new film.

   • What place the gods for our repose assigned.
     Friends daily flock; and scarce the kindly spring
     Began to clothe the ground

2. (transitive, obsolete) To flock to; to crowd.
   • 1609, Taylor

     Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.

3. To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukk?n-, *flukkan-, *fluks?n- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flokë (“hair”).

Noun

flock (countable and uncountable, plural flocks)

1. Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding.
2. A lock of wool or hair.
3. Very fine sifted woollen refuse, especially that from shearing the nap of cloths, formerly used as a coating for wallpaper to give it a velvety or clothlike appearance; also, the dust of vegetable fibre used for a similar purpose.

   • There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

Translations

Verb

flock (third-person singular simple present flocks, present participle flocking, simple past and past participle flocked)

1. (transitive) To coat a surface with dense fibers or particles; especially, to create a dense arrangement of fibers with a desired nap.

Translations

Derived terms

• flocked

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish flokker, flukker, from Old Norse flokkr, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz. Cognate with Faroese flokkur, Icelandic flokkur, Norwegian flokk, and Danish flok.

Pronunciation

Noun

flock c

1. flock; a group of people or animals
2. murder of crows

Declension

Related terms

• flockas