flotsam
noun /ˈflɒtsəm/
/ˈflɑːtsəm/
[uncountable]- parts of boats, pieces of wood or rubbish, etc. that are found on land near the sea or floating on the sea; any kind of rubbish
- The beaches are wide and filled with interesting flotsam and jetsam.
- people who have no home or job and who move from place to place, often rejected by society
- the human flotsam of inner cities
Word Originearly 17th cent.: from Anglo-Norman French floteson, from floter ‘to float’.