"S" Word Origins

sleuthhound

Origin

From Middle English sluth hunde (and earlier as slodogge), from Old Norse slóð (“track”) + hound.

slew

Origin

Mostly a British spelling variant of "slue," describing a turning or twisting motion; unrelated to "slay," despite being its past tense form in a different verb.

slice

Old French

From Old French esclice, "a piece split off," tracing back to a Germanic root meaning "to split, tear apart."

slicer

Origin

From "slice" plus the agent suffix "-er."

slick

Old English

From Old English slīc, "sleek, smooth, crafty," tracing to a Germanic root meaning "to glide, smooth, spread."

slicker

Origin

From "slick" plus "-er."

slickered

Origin

From slicker + -ed.

slidder

Origin

From Middle English slyderen, slidren, from Old English sliderian (“to slip”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidrōn (“to slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”). Cognate with Middle Dutch slideren (“to drag, train”), German schlittern (“to slip, slide”).

slide

Old English

From Old English slīdan, "to slide, glide" — an ancient Germanic verb related to a root meaning "slippery."

slider

Origin

From "slide" plus "-er"; the small-burger sense started as a nickname for miniature steamed hamburgers at White Castle restaurants.

slidey

Origin

From slide + -y.

slidy

Origin

From slide + -y.

slight

Old English

From Old English sliht, "smooth, level," related to "slick" — the sense shifted over time to mean "insignificant" and then "slender."

slightly

Origin

From "slight" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

slim

German

Borrowed from Low German or Dutch slim, originally meaning "crooked" or "sly." The meaning gradually softened over centuries into "thin, graceful" in English — what linguists call a rare positive shift in meaning.

slime

Latin

From Old English slīm, an ancient Germanic word related to Latin limus, "mud" — both trace back to a root meaning "smooth, sticky."

slimeball

German

A compound of "slime" and "ball," partly modelled on the German word Schleimkugel.

slimehole

Origin

From slime + hole.

slimy

Old English

From "slime" plus the adjective suffix "-y," replacing an older Old English word for the same idea.

sling

Old Norse

From Old Norse slyngva, "to hurl," related to a Germanic root meaning "to wind, twist" — the same idea behind German schlingen.

slingback

Origin

From sling + back.

slingshot

Origin

A straightforward combination of "sling" and "shot" — a device that slings a shot.

slink

Old English

From Old English slincan, meaning "to creep or crawl," related to words like "sleek."

slinky

Origin

Formed from "slink" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y," describing something that moves in a smooth, sinuous way.

slip

German

Probably from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German "slippe," a word linked to the idea of splitting or cutting away — the sense of a small detached piece.

slipover

Origin

From slip + over.

slipper

Middle English

From Middle English "slypper," built from "slip" plus "-er" — a shoe you simply slip on.

slippery

Old English

From Old English slipor ("smooth, slippery"), from the same Germanic root as "slip."

slipshod

Origin

From slip + shod (“wearing shoes”), originally wearing slippers. The meaning slovenly is from the early 19th century.

slipstream

Origin

A compound of "slip" and "stream," describing the flow of air left behind a moving object.

slit

Old English

From Old English slītan, meaning "to tear apart," from a Proto-Germanic root shared with the idea of ripping or splitting.

slither

Old English

An alteration of the older word "slidder," meaning "to slide or creep," ultimately from Old English roots shared with "slide."

slithery

Origin

From Middle English slidery; equivalent to and remodelled as slither + -y.

slive

Origin

From Middle English sliven, from Old English slīfan (“to cleave, split”), from Proto-West Germanic *slīban, from Proto-Germanic *slībaną (“to split”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”).

sliver

Old English

From Middle English "sliver," related to an Old English verb meaning "to split or cleave."

slizzard

Origin

From slither + -iz-, an intensifying infix, apparently + -ard, perhaps from drunkard. Compare slizzer (“to slither”).

Sloan

Origin

From Gaelic sluaghán, related to sluagh, "army, host."

slob

Irish

From Irish "slaba," originally referring to mud, later applied insultingly to an untidy person.

slobber

German

From Middle Dutch "slobberen," related to German dialect words for slurping or drooling.

slog

Origin

Probably a variation of "slug," in the sense of hitting hard, or possibly related to "slough" (a muddy bog one must trudge through).

slogan

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm, literally "army cry" or battle cry, later softened in meaning to any catchy repeated phrase.

slogger

Origin

From slog + -er.

sloop

Dutch

Borrowed from Dutch "sloep," related to the word "shallop," another term for a light boat.

slop

Old English

From Old English roots referring to a loose outer garment, later shifting to describe sloppy, spilled substances.

slope

Origin

Derived from the older adjective/adverb "aslope," meaning "in a slanted direction."

sloppy

Origin

Formed from "slop" (mess, spilled liquid) plus the adjective suffix "-y."

slosh

Origin

Onomatopoeic; compare splash, splosh.

sloshed

Origin

In sense “drunk”, circa 1946.