flew

Flew is the simple past tense of the verb fly in English. It describes the act of moving through the air, typically by wings or by an aircraft, at a point in the past. The present tense is fly, and the past participle is flown. The form flew is irregular, and its pronunciation rhymes with blue.

Etymology and related forms: The verb to fly traces to Old English fleogan or fleogan, with cognates in other Germanic languages such as Dutch vliegen and German fliegen. Through historical sound changes, the past tense developed into flew, while the past participle took the form flown. Related verbal forms include flying (present participle) and flights, a noun derived from the same root.

Usage: Flew is used in narrative and descriptive writing to situate actions in the past, such as birds taking flight or airplanes traveling through the sky. It is also common in idiomatic expressions like time flew by, highlighting the rapid passage of time. Care is needed to distinguish flew (past) from flown (past participle) in compound tenses, as in has flown vs. had flown.

As a proper noun: Flew may appear as a surname in English-speaking regions. It is not widely used as a place name, and there are no widely recognized locations commonly associated with the term. In most contexts, flew functions strictly as a verb form rather than a standalone noun.

See also: fly, flying, flown, flight.