A Flaw Was Originally a Flake or Splinter
A flaw is an imperfection. The Old Norse word meant a flake chipped from a surface.
A flaw is an imperfection or defect. Old Norse *flaga* meant a flake or slab chipped from a surface, and the word entered English meaning a crack or splinter in stone or metal before it meant a fault in an argument or a character. A physical chip became a figurative one. In gemstones the term is still literal: a flaw is an internal fracture or inclusion, and grading systems measure them precisely.
- An imperfection. *A fatal flaw.*
- A crack. *A flaw in the metal.*
- A gemstone inclusion. *A flawed diamond.*
- Flawless — without defect. *Flawless.*
- Old Norse — *flaga*, a flake. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | flaw | A flaw. |
| Plural | flaws | Flaws. |
| Adjective | flawed | Flawed. |
| Adjective | flawless | Flawless. |
| Old Norse | flaga | A flake. |
- There is a flaw in the argument.Reasoning.
- A flaw ran through the casting.Material.
- The stone was flawless.Gems.
The fatal flaw in drama
- Hamartia is the Greek term, from Aristotle's *Poetics*
- It literally means missing the mark, as an archer might
- Aristotle meant an error of judgement more than a moral failing
- Later criticism turned it into a character defect
- Hubris, excessive pride, is the most familiar example
Old Norse *flaga*, a flake or slab, entering Middle English in the 1300s.
Did flaw always mean an imperfection?
It first meant a flake or splinter chipped from stone or metal. The figurative sense of a defect came later.
What is a fatal flaw in drama?
A translation of Greek hamartia, which for Aristotle meant an error of judgement rather than a moral defect.