flake

About 1.24 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything

   There were a few flakes of paint on the floor from when we were painting the walls.

2. noun A scale of a fish or similar animal
3. noun A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
4. noun A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.

   She makes pleasant conversation, but she's kind of a flake when it comes time for action.

5. noun A carnation with only two colours in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
6. noun A flat turn or tier of rope.
7. noun A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota.
8. noun A wire rack for drying fish.

Similar words

flake off chip fleck scrap peel peel off snowflake bit kook oatmeal

Often followed by

of tools and scars off or with is graphite

Word family

flake out flaked flaked out flakes flakes out flaking flaking out