Flet and Dray

The words flet and dray (or drey,) refer to types of squirrel’s nests. This is part of a complete episode.

Transcript of “Flet and Dray”

I learned this week that a flet is sort of the same thing as a dray.

A flet, F-L-E-T, and a dray, D-R-A-Y.

Flet is used in the Tolkien books to refer to a kind of treehouse-like structure, you know, like a platform up a tree.

Yep, yep, yep.

And then a dray.

I only know drayhorse.

What is dray in this context?

D-R-A-Y or D-R-E-Y, particularly in Britain, is a squirrel’s nest.

But you’re right.

Flet is another term for a squirrel’s nest.

A squirrel’s nest.

Okay, that would explain the Tolkien.

He does that all the time.

His words always have some kind of root in the Nordic languages or the Anglo-Saxon languages, the Germanic languages.

Yeah, exactly.

Send us your thoughts about language to words@waywordradio.org.

Thank you.

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