Pronounced: fleer, noun/verb
Notes: My guess was one who runs away (the person who is pursued), but that isn’t correct
Yesterday’s word
The word deterge means “to wash, wipe, or cleanse”
First usage
Our word goes back to the early 1600s
Background / Comments
You probably guessed the word if you added an ‘n’ and a ‘t’ and produced “detergent”. It comes from the Latin word detergere (to wipe away), which comes from de- (away) and tergere (to wipe)
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 