Flux

How to spell flux

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce flux

What does flux mean?

1. nounA state of continuous change or unsteady movement.
2. nounThe rate of flow of a quantity such as energy, particles, or a magnetic field through a given surface.
3. nounA substance applied to metal surfaces to help solder flow and bond cleanly.

Flux in a sentence

• The entire department was in a state of flux after the merger.

• The sensor measures the magnetic flux passing through the coil.

• She brushed a little flux onto the joint before applying the solder.

• Travel plans remained in flux while the airline kept revising its schedule.

• Engineers calculated the heat flux across the metal plate.

• The kit included a tin of paste flux for the circuit board repairs.

Where does flux come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Flux comes from the Latin noun fluxus, meaning 'a flowing', which was the past participle of the verb fluere, 'to flow'. English took it in through Old French during the late 1300s, when it first described a flowing or discharge, including a medical sense of an unhealthy flow from the body. From that literal idea of liquid movement, the word broadened to mean continuous change or instability, the sense most people use today when they say something is 'in flux'. The same fluere root flows through a whole family of English words, including 'fluid', 'fluent', 'influence', and 'superfluous', all carrying the underlying picture of something moving or pouring. The single x at the end is the spelling trap, since the word can look as though it should match longer relatives, but flux keeps the compact -ux ending it inherited directly from Latin.

How the word is built

• flu- (from Latin fluere: to flow)
• -x (noun ending from the Latin past participle fluxus)