Flaunt
mid 16th century: of unknown origin.
wiktionary
Of North Germanic origin. Perhaps related to Norwegian flanta(“to show off, wander about”), Icelandic flana(“to rush about, act rashly or heedlessly”) and then also to French flâner(“to wander around, loiter”).
Alternatively, it could be related to Swedish flankt(“loosely, flutteringly”) (compare English flaunt-a-flaunt), from flanka(“waver, hang and wave about, ramble”), a nasalised variant of flakka(“to waver”), related to Middle English flacken(“to move to and fro, flutter, palpitate”). See flack.
flaunt (third-person singular simple present flaunts, present participle flaunting, simple past and past participle flaunted)
etymonline
flaunt (v.)
1560s, "to display oneself in flashy clothes," of unknown origin. Perhaps a variant of flout or vaunt. Perhaps from Scandinavian, where the nearest form seems to be Swedish dialectal flankt "loosely, flutteringly," from flakka "to waver" (related to flag (v.1)). It looks French, but it corresponds to no known French word. Transitive sense, "flourish (something), show off, make an ostentatious or brazen display of" is from 1827. Related: Flaunted; flaunting; Flauntingly.
flaunt (n.)
1620s, "act or habit of flaunting," from flaunt (v.).
