flee: [OE] Flee, like its close relatives German fliehe, Dutch vlieden, and Swedish and Danish fly, comes from a prehistoric Germanic *thleukhan, a word of unknown origin. In Old English, flee and fly had the same past tense and past participle (and indeed the same derivatives, represented in modern English by flight), and this, together with a certain similarity in meaning, has led to the two verbs being associated and often confused, but there is no reliable evidence that they are etymologically connected.
flee (v.)
Old English fleon, flion "take flight, fly from, avoid, escape" (contracted class II strong verb; past tense fleah, past participle flogen), from Proto-Germanic *fleuhan "to run away" (cognates: Old High German fliohan, Old Norse flöja, Old Frisian flia, Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Gothic þliuhan "to flee"), probably from PIE *pleuk-, extended form of root *pleu- "to flow" (see pluvial). Also compare fly (v.2).
Weak past tense and past participle fled emerged in Middle English under influence of Scandinavian. Old English had a transitive form, geflieman "put to flight, banish, drive away," which came in handy in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Related: fled; Fleeing.
实用例句
1. A trickle of refugees began to flee the country.
难民开始三五成群地陆续逃离该国。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Later, he suffered the indignity of having to flee angry protesters.
后来，他不得不极不光彩地避开愤怒的抗议者溜走了。
来自柯林斯例句
3. For an instant, Catherine was tempted to flee.
有那么一会儿，凯瑟琳很想逃跑。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Many refugees have been forced to flee their homeland.
很多难民被迫逃离了祖国。
来自《权威词典》
5. Why does she always flee any kind of responsibility?
