flux

\ \ [14] Flux denotes generally ‘flowing’, and comes from Latin fluxus, a derivative of the past participle of fluere ‘flow’. This verb, similar in form and meaning to English flow but in fact unrelated to it, is responsible for a very wide range of English words: its past participle has given us fluctuate [17], its present participle fluent [16] and a spectrum of derived forms, such as affluent, effluent [18], and influence, and other descendants include fluid [15] (literally ‘flowing’, from Latin fluidus), mellifluous (literally ‘flowing with honey’), superfluous [15], and fluvial [14] (from Latin fluvius ‘river’, a derivative of fluere). Latin fluxus also produced the card-playing term flush [16].

\ \ Cf.⇒ AFFLUENT, EFFLUENT, FLUCTUATE, FLUENT, FLUID, INFLUENCE, MELLIFLUOUS, SUPERFLUOUS