flotter

to float; to flutter, to wave; to mill about

Inherited from Middle French flotter, from Old French floter (“to float”), from Frankish *flotōn (“to float, swim”), from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float, swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *plew-, *plōw- (“to flow, swim”). Cognate with Middle Dutch vlōten (“to float, swim”), Old English flotian (“to float”), Old Norse flota (“to float, launch”). More at English float.