Fluke Names a Lucky Accident, a Flatworm and an Anchor Arm
A fluke is a lucky chance. The word also names a parasitic flatworm and the flat blade of an anchor or whale's tail.
A fluke is a stroke of luck, especially an accidental success. Three separate words share the spelling: the lucky chance, from nineteenth-century billiards slang for an accidental scoring shot; the parasitic flatworm, from Old English for a flatfish; and the flat blade of an anchor or the lobe of a whale's tail. The worm and the anchor share the sense of flatness. A liver fluke is a serious livestock parasite.
- A lucky chance. *A complete fluke.*
- A parasitic flatworm. *Liver fluke.*
- An anchor's blade. *The anchor fluke.*
- A whale's tail lobe. *The whale's flukes.*
- Flukey — lucky. *A flukey win.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fluke | A pure fluke. |
| Plural | flukes | Whale flukes. |
| Adjective | flukey | A flukey goal. |
| Compound | liver fluke | Liver fluke. |
| Old English | floc | A flatfish. |
- The goal was a total fluke.Luck.
- Liver fluke affects sheep and cattle.Parasite.
- The whale raised its flukes.Anatomy.
Words for lucky accidents
- Fluke — accidental success, often in sport
- Serendipity — coined by Horace Walpole in 1754
- Windfall — originally fruit blown down, free for the taking
- Stroke of luck — a single fortunate event
- Break — as in a lucky break
The lucky sense is from 1850s billiards slang, of uncertain origin. The flatworm is from Old English *floc*, a flatfish, and the anchor blade from the same sense of flatness.
Are the three flukes related?
The worm and the anchor blade share a sense of flatness. The lucky chance is a separate nineteenth-century slang word.
What are a whale's flukes?
The two horizontal lobes of its tail, named for their flat blade shape.