Standard Lemma guide

flotsam

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈflɒtsəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈflɑtsəm/
  • rhymes with -ɒtsəm
  • CMU ARPABET: F L AA1 T S AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Debris floating in a river or sea, in particular fragments from a shipwreck.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the floating wreckage of a ship

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: jetsam

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wreckage

History

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman floteson, from Old French flotaison (“a floating”), from floter (“to float”), of Germanic origin (See float.), + -aison, from Latin -atio.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 废料 (fèiliào) — flotsam
  • Danish: drivgods — flotsam
  • Dutch: drijfhout — flotsam
  • Dutch: veek — flotsam
  • Esperanto: flosaĵo — flotsam
  • Faroese: reki — flotsam
  • Finnish: hylkytavara — flotsam
  • Finnish: ajelehtiva tavara — flotsam
  • Finnish: ajelehtiva hylkytavara — flotsam
  • French: épave — flotsam
  • French: débris — flotsam
  • German: Treibgut — flotsam
  • Indonesian: sarah — flotsam
  • Italian: relitto — flotsam
  • Javanese: ꦱꦫꦃ (sarah) — flotsam
  • Māori: pārāriki — flotsam
  • Māori: paratai — flotsam
  • Polish: rozbilina — flotsam
  • Portuguese: destroços — flotsam
  • Russian: обло́мки (oblómki) — flotsam
  • Scottish Gaelic: murrag — flotsam
  • Spanish: pecio — flotsam
  • Swedish: vrakgods — flotsam
  • Swedish: drivgods — flotsam
  • Welsh: broc môr — flotsam