flee

English

Etymology

From Middle English flen, from Old English flēon, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-, *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”).

Cognate with Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Icelandic flýja, Swedish fly, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan). Within English, related to fly and more distantly to flow.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fliː/
Rhymes: -iː
Audio (US): (file)
Homophone: flea

Verb

flee (third-person singular simple present flees, present participle fleeing, simple past and past participle fled)

(intransitive) To run away; to escape.
The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1:
  The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
  As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.
- 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 254:
  When, however, the plant spirits were not strong enough in themselves, then the family called in the Medicine Man. He appeared, a "monster of so frightful mien", with noise making apparatus which produced such a terrifying din that even the hardiest demon was likely to flee.
(transitive) To escape from.
Many people fled the country as war loomed.

Thousands of people moved northward trying to flee the drought.
- 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: Passed to you, Mr. Macmillan”, in Modern Railways, page 220:
  The Government, having lit the fuse, is not going to be allowed to flee the explosion.
(intransitive) To disappear quickly; to vanish.
Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Derived terms

Related terms

flight

Translations

to run away; to escape

Afrikaans: vlug (af)
Albanian: vërdhoj, arratis (sq), iki (sq)
Arabic: هَرَبَ (ar) (haraba), فَرَّ (farra)
South Levantine Arabic: هرب (harab)
Armenian: փախչել (hy) (pʻaxčʻel)
Asturian: fuxir
Azerbaijani: qaçmaq (az)
Basque: ihes egin (eu)
Belarusian: уцяка́ць impf (ucjakácʹ), уцячы́ pf (ucjačý), бегчы́ impf (bjehčý), убе́гчы pf (ubjéhčy)
Bengali: পালানো (bn) (palanō), ভাগা (bn) (bhaga), ফেরার করা (pherar kora)
Breton: redek (br), tec'hout (br), fuiñ
Bulgarian: бя́гам (bg) impf (bjágam), избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam)
Burmese: ထွက်ပြေး (my) (htwakpre:), လိုက်ပြေး (my) (luikpre:), ပြေး (my) (pre:)
Catalan: fugir (ca)
Chechen: дада (dada)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 逃 (zh) (táo), 奔逃 (zh) (bēntáo), 奔 (zh) (bēn)
Czech: utéct (cs), utéci (cs) pf, utíkat (cs) impf
Danish: flygte (da), fly (da)
Dutch: vluchten (nl), wegvluchten (nl), ontsnappen (nl), vlieden (nl)
Egyptian:

(jfd)
Esperanto: fuĝi
Estonian: põgenema
Faroese: flýggja
Finnish: paeta (fi), karata (fi)
French: s’enfuir (fr), prendre la fuite (fr)
Friulian: fuî
Galician: fuxir (gl)
Georgian: გაქცევა (gakceva)
German: fliehen (de), flüchten (de)
Gothic: 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan)
Greek: φεύγω (el) (févgo)
Ancient Greek: φεύγω (pheúgō), τρέω (tréō)
Hebrew: נָס (he) (nás)
Hindi: भागना (hi) (bhāgnā)
Hungarian: menekül (hu)
Icelandic: flýja (is)
Ido: fugar (io)
Ingrian: paeta, karata
Irish: teith
Italian: fuggire (it)
Japanese: 逃げる (ja) (にげる, nigeru)
Kabuverdianu: fuji
Kazakh: қашу (qaşu)
Khmer: គេច (km) (kɨc), ក្រឡេច (km) (krɑləc), រត់ (km) (rŭət)
Korean: 달아나다 (ko) (daranada), 도망치다 (ko) (domangchida), 도망가다 (ko) (domanggada)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ھەڵاتن (hellatin), دەرپەڕین (derperrîn)

Northern Kurdish: revîn (ku), bazdan (ku), bezîn (ku)

Zazaki: remayen
Kyrgyz: качуу (ky) (kacuu)
Lao: ຫນີ (nī)
Latin: fugiō (la), fugitō (la), perfugio
Latvian: bēgt
Lithuanian: bėgti (lt)
Low German:
German Low German: flüchten
Macedonian: по́бегне (póbegne), на́пушти (nápušti)
Maguindanao: laguy
Maori: kairere, tūrere, papahoro
Mongolian: зугтах (mn) (zugtax)
Northern Sami: báhtarit
Norwegian:
Bokmål: flykte (no), rømme (no)

Nynorsk: flykte, rømme
Occitan: fugir (oc)
Old Church Slavonic: бѣжати (běžati)
Old English: flēon, ætflēon
Old Norse: flýja
Old Saxon: fliohan
Ottoman Turkish: قاچمق (kaçmak)
Persian: گریختن (fa) (gorixtan), فرار کردن (fa)
Polish: uciec (pl) pf, uciekać (pl) impf, zbiec (pl) pf, umknąć (pl) pf, umykać impf
Portuguese: escapar (pt), fugir (pt)
Quechua: ayqey, chinkakapuy, mitikuy
Romanian: scăpa (ro), evada (ro), fugi (ro)
Russian: убега́ть (ru) impf (ubegátʹ), убежа́ть (ru) pf (ubežátʹ), удира́ть (ru) impf (udirátʹ), удра́ть (ru) pf (udrátʹ)
Sami:
Kildin Sami: поа̄ччкэ (pååččke)

Lule Sami: báhtarit
Scottish Gaelic: teich
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: бежати impf

Roman: bežati (sh) impf
Slovak: utekať impf, utiecť pf
Slovene: bežati (sl) impf
Southern Altai: качар (kačar)
Spanish: huir(se), fugarse (es), disused: fuir (es) / fugir / furtarse (es)
Swedish: fly (sv)
Tajik: гурехтан (tg) (gurextan)
Telugu: పారిపోవు (te) (pāripōvu)
Thai: หนี (th) (nǐi)
Turkish: kaçmak (tr)
Turkmen: gaçmak
Ukrainian: тіка́ти impf (tikáty), утіка́ти impf (utikáty), утекти́ pf (utektý), бі́гти (uk) impf (bíhty)
Urdu: بهاگنا (bhāgnā)
Uyghur: قاچماق (qachmaq)
Uzbek: qochmoq (uz)
Venetan: fuxir, fùxer, fugér, fugir
Vietnamese: bôn (vi), bôn đào (vi), bỏ chạy
Welsh: ffoi (cy)
Yakut: куот (kuot)
Yiddish: אַנטלויפֿן (antloyfn)

to escape from

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: փախչել (hy) (pʻaxčʻel)
Breton: tec'hel (br)
Bulgarian: избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam)
Catalan: fugir (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Czech: utéci (cs) pf, utíkat (cs) impf
Danish: flygte (da)
Dutch: ontkomen (nl), ontlopen (nl), ontvluchten (nl)
Esperanto: fuĝi
Finnish: paeta (fi), karata (fi)
French: fuir (fr), échapper (fr)
Friulian: fuî
Georgian: გაქცევა (gakceva)
German: fliehen (de), entfliehen (de), flüchten (de)
Icelandic: flýja (is)
Ido: eskapar (io)
Irish: teith ó/roimh
Japanese: 逃げる (ja) (にげる, nigeru)
Kabuverdianu: fuji
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ڕاکردن (rakirdin)
Latin: fugio (la), confugio (la), diffugio, profugio, refugio (la), evado, evado
Macedonian: и́збегне (ízbegne)
Polish: uciec (pl), uciekać (pl), zbiec (pl), umknąć (pl), umykać
Portuguese: escapar de, fugir de
Romanian: fugi (ro)
Russian: убега́ть (ru) impf (ubegátʹ), убежа́ть (ru) pf (ubežátʹ), удира́ть (ru) impf (udirátʹ), удра́ть (ru) pf (udrátʹ)
Spanish: huir (es)
Swedish: fly (sv)
Telugu: పారిపోవు (te) (pāripōvu)
Thai: หนี (th) (nǐi)
Welsh: ffoi (cy)

to disappear quickly

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Breton: tec'hout (br)
Bulgarian: изчезвам бързо (izčezvam bǎrzo)
Catalan: esvair-se (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Czech: zmizet (cs) pf, vypařit se pf, zdrhnout (cs) pf (colloquial)
Dutch: vervliegen (nl), vlieden (nl)
Finnish: kadota (fi)
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Latin: evanesco, aufugio
Maori: hārewa (of birds)
Polish: ulotnić się, ulatniać się
Portuguese: sumir (pt)
Romanian: (figuratively) a se evapora, dispărea (ro)
Russian: улету́чиваться (ru) impf (uletúčivatʹsja), улету́читься (ru) pf (uletúčitʹsja)
Spanish: desvanecerse (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} fuĝi
Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} minggat (id), ^{(please verify)} melarikan diri (id)
Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} revîn (ku), ^{(please verify)} bazdan (ku)

Anagrams

elfe, feel, fele, leef

Middle English

Noun

flee

Alternative form of fle

Scots

Alternative forms

fle, flei

Etymology

From Middle English flye, from Old English flȳġe, flēoge, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ. Compare English fly, Dutch vlieg, German Fliege.

Noun

flee

fly