noun
flour
FLOW-uh
noun
1
A fine powder made by grinding grain, especially wheat, used mainly for baking.
"She sifted the flour before adding it to the mixing bowl."
"The recipe calls for two cups of plain flour."
verb
1
To coat or dust something with flour.
"Flour the work surface before rolling out the dough."
How to Use Flour
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe powder you get from grinding grain, used to make bread, cakes, and pastry.
Common mistake
Easy to mix up with "flower" (the plant) since they sound identical — they are historically related but now mean completely different things.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
plain flour
self-raising flour
flour a surface
wheat flour
Word Forms
floured past tense, flours singular
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “flour”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
She sifted the _____ before adding it to the mixing bowl.
Etymology
Originally just a spelling variant of "flower" — flour was seen as the "flower," or finest part, of ground grain. The two words split apart in spelling around the early 1800s.