fluke
- v.
- 侥幸成功
- n.
- 锚爪，侥幸，偶然事故
1词源 1
词源说明
Unknown, perhaps dialectal. It seems to have originally referred to a lucky shot at billiards. Possibly connected to sense 3, referring to whales' use of flukes to move rapidly. Possibly derived from German Glück (“luck, good fortune, happiness”).
释义（英文）
- A lucky or improbable occurrence that could probably never be repeated.
- (transitive) To obtain a successful outcome by pure chance.
- (snooker, transitive) To fortuitously pot a ball in an unintended way.
词族
2词源 2
演变路径（由近及远）
词源说明
From Old English flōc (“flatfish”), of Germanic origin, related to German flach (“flat”), Old Norse floke (“flatfish”), all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *flakaz.
释义（英文）
- A summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus).
- A trematode
3词源 3
演变路径（由近及远）
词源说明
Mid-16th century in the sense of “anchor blade”. Probably the same word as in etymology 2 above or else a related word for something flat (cf. Proto-Germanic *flakaz). A derivation from Middle Low German vlögel (“wing”), from Proto-Germanic *flugilaz, seems phonetically impossible. If anything, related vlōch, vlucht (“flight”, both also “wing”) or even *vlunke (modern Low German Flunk (“wing, pinion”)) are more plausible candidates. Note that the kind of whale's fin is called Fluke in contemporary German, but this is likely from English.