Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

flesh

/flɛʃ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.20 in modern English

Syllables
flesh
IPA
/flɛʃ/
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.

Uncountable

noun

The skin of a human or animal.

Uncountable

noun

Bare arms, bare legs, bare torso.

Uncountable

noun

Animal tissue regarded as food; meat (but sometimes excluding fish).

Uncountable

noun

The human body as a physical entity.

Uncountable

noun

The mortal body of a human being, contrasted with the spirit or soul.

Uncountable

noun

The evil and corrupting principle working in man.

Uncountable

noun

The soft, often edible, parts of fruits or vegetables.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English flesh, flesch, flæsch, from Old English flǣsċ, from Proto-West Germanic *flaiski, from Proto-Germanic *flaiski, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁ḱ- (“to tear, peel off”). Cognates Cognate with Yola vleash, vlesh (“flesh”), North Frisian flaasch, flaosk, Fleesk, fleäsk, floask, flääsk, flååsch (“flesh, meat”), Saterland Frisian Flaask (“flesh, meat”), West Frisian fleis (“flesh, meat”), Cimbrian blòas, vlaisch, vlòas (“flesh, meat”), Dutch vlees, vleesch (“flesh, meat”), German Fleisch (“flesh, meat”), German Low German and Luxembourgish Fleesch (“flesh, meat”), Vilamovian fłaś (“meat; muscle”), Yiddish פֿלייש (fleysh, “flesh, meat”), Danish flæsk (“pork; bacon”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk flesk (“pork; bacon”), Swedish fläsk (“pork”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: flesh, flǣsċ, *flaiski, *pleh₁ḱ-

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce flesh?
The recorded pronunciation is /flɛʃ/.
What does flesh mean?
The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.
Where does flesh come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce flesh

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “flesh”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/flɛʃ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “flesh”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “flesh” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.