Etymology

glib

G2L1I1B3

Today it means: Having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding; superficial; shallow. Full definition →

Low German glibberig, glibberich ← Dutch glibberig
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

glib · adjective, verb, noun1

  1. Dutch · derived fromglibberig“slippery”
  2. Low German · derived fromglibberig, glibberich“slippery”
  3. English todayglib

A shortening of either obsolete English glibbery (“slippery”) or its source, Low German glibberig, glibberich (“slippery”) / Dutch glibberig (“slippery”).

glib · noun2

  1. Irish · borrowed fromglib
  2. Irish · borrowed fromglib
  3. English todayglib

Borrowed from Irish glib.

glib · verb3

Compare Old English and dialectal English lib (“to castrate, geld”), dialectal Danish live, Low German and Old Dutch lubben.

Words from the same roots

Low Germanglibberig, glibberich all →

glibbery

Dutchglibberig all →

glibbery

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.