Other forms: flows, flowing, flowed
Flow is a steady movement of liquid, or of anything moving in one direction. Continuous, and not stopping to think about it.
It covers water, traffic, money, information and blood, so cash flow, traffic flow and blood flow are all standard. The verb works the same way. There is a fine psychological sense, since being in flow means being so absorbed in a task that time disappears, and that use is now widespread. Flow chart, going with the flow, and the ebb and flow of something all take the same idea.
1nounflowA steady continuous movement in one direction.
“The flow of water had slowed to a trickle.”
2verbmoveTo move steadily and continuously.
“The river flows north from here.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Flow goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root that covered flying, flowing and running all at once. Water, birds and runners were understood to be doing the same thing.
Middle English
flowe
English, today
flow
From Middle English flowe, from the verb (see below). The psychology sense “state of focus” was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA