Flay
/fleɪ/noun
To strip the skin from a person or animal; by extension, to criticize harshly.
Did you know?Flay is an old Germanic word tied to the same ancient root as Latin pluma (“feather”), both tracing back to the idea of peeling or plucking something off a surface.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pleu- / *pleh₂-
“To peel, pluck, or strip off”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*flēaną
“To flay, peel, or strip”
Old English
OE
flēan
“To flay; to skin”
Middle English
ME
fleyen / flayen
“To strip the skin from”
Modern English
English
flay
“To strip skin from; to criticize severely”