flounder

flounder

English

A European flounder, Platichthys flesus.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈflaʊndɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊndə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English flowndre, from Anglo-Norman floundre, from Old Northern French flondre, from Old Norse flyðra[1][2], from Proto-Germanic *flunþrijǭ. Cognate with Danish flynder, German Flunder, Swedish flundra.

Noun

flounder (plural flounders or flounder)

1. A European species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, European flounder, Platichthys flesus.
2. (Canada, US) Any of various flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae or Bothidae.
3. A bootmaker's tool for crimping boot fronts.

Derived terms

• arrowtooth flounder
• craig flounder
• flounderling
• olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)
• peacock flounder
• righteye flounder
• sand flounder
• summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus)

 

Translations

Platichthys flesus

Asturian: soyu m, xoyu m Basque: platuxa latz Bulgarian: камбала f (kambala) Catalan: plana (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 川鰈／川鲽 (chuāndié) Czech: platýs bradavičnatý m, flundra obecná Danish: skrubbe c Dutch: bot (nl) m Estonian: lest (et) Finnish: kampela (fi) French: flet (fr) m Galician: solla (gl) f, lirpa (gl) f German: Flunder (de) f Greek: πλευρονήκτης (el) m (plevroníktis), ψήσσα f (psíssa) Hungarian: érdes lepényhal Irish: leith f, leadhbóg f Lithuanian: upinė plekšnė Lutshootseed: p'uay' Maori: pātiki Norman: fliandre f Norwegian: skrubbe (no) c Polish: tornia, fląderka f, flądra (pl) f Portuguese: linguado (pt) m, solha (pt) f Russian: речна́я ка́мбала f (rečnája kámbala) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: иверак m Latin: iverak (sh) m Spanish: platija f Swedish: skrubbskädda (sv) c, flundra (sv) c Tagalog: tatampal Turkish: pisi balığı (tr)

any flatfish — see flatfish

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

Italian: (please verify) sogliola (it) f Latvian: (please verify) bute (lv) f Luxembourgish: (please verify) Rubbel m Northern Sami: (please verify) finddar, (please verify) sánddat Volapük: (please verify) sgar

Etymology 2

Possibly from the noun. Probably a blend of flounce +‎ founder[3] or a blend of founder +‎ blunder[4] or from Dutch flodderen (“wade”). See other terms beginning with fl, such as flutter, flitter, float, flap, flub, flip.

Verb

flounder (third-person singular simple present flounders, present participle floundering, simple past and past participle floundered)

1. (intransitive) To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
   • 1859–1860, William Hamilton, H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, editors, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 648725:

     They have floundered on from blunder to blunder.

   He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.

   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 136

     He is assessing directions, but he is not lost, not floundering.

2. (intransitive) To flop around as a fish out of water.
3. (intransitive) To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.

   Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.

4. To be in serious difficulty.
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 159:

     Meanwhile bus and tram competition was causing the Central London Railway to flounder after its early success, and as for the City & South London ... that had always floundered.

Usage notes

Frequently confused with the verb founder. The difference is one of severity; floundering (struggling to maintain a position) comes before foundering (losing it completely by falling, sinking or failing).

Translations

to flop around

Bulgarian: пляскам (bg) (pljaskam) Danish: sprælle Dutch: spartelen (nl) Finnish: pyörähtää (fi) German: herumzappeln, hüpfen (de), taumeln (de) Greek: σπαρταρώ (el) (spartaró) Hungarian: ficánkol (hu), fickándozik (hu), evickél, hentereg (hu), hempereg (hu), vergődik (hu), fetreng (hu) Maori: tākaru, tangaru Portuguese: debater-se Russian: бара́хтаться (ru) (baráxtatʹsja) Swedish: sprattla (sv) Ukrainian: борсатися (uk) (borsatysja)

to attempt to move or regain one's balance

Finnish: kompuroida (fi), horjua (fi) German. Schwierigkeiten haben, sich fangen wollen French: tituber (fr) Greek: παραπαίω (el) (parapaío) Hungarian: botladozik (hu), bukdácsol (hu), botorkál (hu) Maori: tangaru, tākaru Spanish: trastabillar (es), tambalearse (es) Swedish: sprattla (sv)

to act clumsily or confused

Azerbaijani: tutulmaq Bulgarian: обърквам се (obǎrkvam se) Finnish: kompuroida (fi) German: straucheln (de), herumholpern Greek: παραδέρνω (el) (paradérno) Hungarian: belezavarodik, belegabalyodik (hu) Japanese: まごつく (ja) (magotsuku) Russian: сбива́ться (ru) impf (sbivátʹsja), сби́ться (ru) pf (sbítʹsja) Spanish: trastabillar (es), titubear (es)

References

• flounder at OneLook Dictionary Search

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “flounder”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
2. “flynder” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog
3. “flounder”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
4. “flounder”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• unfolder

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Middle English

Noun

flounder

1. Alternative form of flowndre