flair

From Middle English flayre, from Old French flair (“scent, odour”), from flairier (“to reek, smell”), from Latin flāgrō, dissimilated variation of frāgrō (“emit a sweet smell”, verb). More at fragrant.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /flɛə̯/
• (US) enPR: flâr, IPA^(key): /flɛɚ̯/

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /fleː/

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• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /fleə/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /fliə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /fleɹ/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /flɜː(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: flare; fleer (cheer–chair merger); fleur (fair–fur merger)

flair (countable and uncountable, plural flairs)

1. A natural or innate talent or aptitude.

   Synonyms: gift, knack, talent

   to have a flair for art

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 21:

     Poirot was an extraordinary looking little man. [...] The neatness of his attire was almost incredible. I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police. As a detective, his flair had been extraordinary, and he had achieved triumphs by unravelling some of the most baffling cases of the day.

   • 2020 January 22, Stuart Jeffries, “Terry Jones obituary”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     For all his directorial flair, though, Jones may well be best remembered for creating such characters as Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson, Cardinal Biggles of the Spanish Inquisition, the Scottish poet Ewan McTeagle and the monstrous musician rodent beater in the mouse organ sketch who hits specially tuned mice with mallets.

   • 1999, Lucy Honig, The Truly Needy And Other Stories, University of Pittsburgh Press, →ISBN, page 73:

     The cafard. The cockroach. The French certainly had a flair for labeling their unhappiness. Long ago he had begun to visualize this nagging misery as the insect the word also named.

2. Distinctive style or elegance.

   Synonyms: elan, elegance, grace, panache, style

   to dress with flair

   Each writer offers a unique flair to readers.

   • 1999, Mike Judge, Office Space, spoken by Joanna (Jennifer Aniston):

     You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don't you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?

3. (obsolete) Smell; odor.
4. (obsolete) Olfaction; sense of smell.

flair (third-person singular simple present flairs, present participle flairing, simple past and past participle flaired)

1. (transitive) To add flair.
   • 1988, Poul Jorgensen, Poul Jorgensen's Book of Fly Tying: A Guide to Flies for All Game Fish‎^[2]:

     Place your thumb on top of the shank and your bent index finger under the hair and pull the tying thread tight to flair it.

• filar, frail

Borrowed from French flair.

• IPA^(key): /flɛːr/

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flair m or n (uncountable)

1. flair (talent or aptitude)
2. (by extension) intuition, sixth sense
3. flair (distinctive style or elegance)
4. (obsolete) olfaction; sense of smell

Deverbal from flairer, from Latin flagrare (“to blow”). Cognate to Portuguese cheiro.

• IPA^(key): /flɛʁ/

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flair m (plural flairs)

1. sense of smell
2. (by extension) intuition, sixth sense

• “flair”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• rifla

flair oblique singular, m (oblique plural flairs, nominative singular flairs, nominative plural flair)

1. smell; odor
2. sense of smell

• fluir

From Old English flōr.

• IPA^(key): /fler/

flair (plural flairs)

1. floor
   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 140:

     He skited it over the flair maybe if it was a jotter and it was you to go and get it.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)