flotsam
pronunciation
How to pronounce flotsam in British English:
UK [ˈflɒtsəm]
How to pronounce flotsam in American English:
US [ˈflɑtsəm]
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- Noun:
- the floating wreckage of a ship
Word Origin
- flotsam (n.)
- c. 1600, from Anglo-French floteson, from Old French flotaison "a floating" (Modern French flottaison), from floter "to float, set afloat" (of Germanic origin; see flotilla) + -aison, from Latin -ation(em). Spelled flotsen in English till mid-19c. when it altered, perhaps under influence of many English words in -some. Folk-etymologized in dialect as floatsome. In British law, flotsam are goods found floating on the sea as a consequence of a shipwreck or action of wind or waves; jetsam are things cast out of a ship in danger of being wrecked, and afterward washed ashore, or things cast ashore by the sailors. Whatever sinks is lagan. Flotsam and jetsam figuratively for "odds and ends" is attested by 1861.
Example
- 1. Flotsam and jetsam , odds and sods , 10 cents off flako corn muffin mix .
- 2. The treatment of metalloid flotsam and broken quiet is handled .
- 3. The mayor says we 've got to take this flotsam .
- 4. They searched for several weeks for identifiable flotsam from the lost planes .
- 5. They counted themselves as wanderers , misfits , flotsam and jetsam .