Flitches

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of large slices or pieces cut from a log or tree trunk, typically along its length or circumference
2. The practice of slicing timber for use in construction or woodworking tasks
3. Referring to sections of wood that may be used for various applications in carpentry or lumber industries

Etymology: "Flitches" is the plural of "flitch," and the singular has a surprisingly specific meaning: the side of an animal, especially a pig, cured as bacon. The sense of a cut-off slab of wood is a later extension of that same idea of a long, flat slice pulled from a larger body. The noun traces back to Old English "fliċċe," meaning the side of an animal, and before that to a Proto-Germanic form "*flikkiją," meaning "side, flitch." Its deeper ancestor is a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to tear, peel off," which fits the idea of a strip or slab being separated from a whole. Cognates survive across the Germanic and Romance worlds: Low German "flikke," Icelandic "flikki," and French "flèche" all preserve the notion of a flank or slice. The plural form is used for the timber sense, where a log is cut into long pieces. Here the word describes the result of splitting rather than the animal part it originally named.