Hard, unyielding, and emotionally cold; resembling flint stone in being difficult to break or soften.
From Middle English 'flinty,' derived from 'flint' (a hard type of rock) plus the suffix '-y.' Flint itself comes from Old English 'flint,' related to Old Norse 'flinta.' The metaphorical use for emotional hardness developed because flint is literally so hard and unyielding.
Flint was actually crucial to human history—early humans used it to make fire by striking it against steel, so a 'flinty' person is someone as essential and unbreakable as that ancient fire-starting stone.
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