slay

slay · verb, adjective, noun, interjection¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*slak-“to hit, strike, throw”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*slahaną“to hit, strike; to kill”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*slahan
4. Old English · inherited fromslēan“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”
5. Middle English · inherited fromsleen
6. English todayslay

From Middle English sleen, slen, from Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognates Cognate with Alemannic German schlaa (“to beat, hit”), Central Franconian schlage, schlon, schloon (“to beat, hit, strike”), Dutch and Low German slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”), German schlagen, schlahen, schlahn (“to beat, hit, strike”), Luxembourgish schloen (“to beat, defeat, hit”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish slå (“to beat, hit, strike”), Faroese sláa (“to beat, strike”), Icelandic slá (“to hit, strike”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan, “to hit, smite, strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.

slay · noun²

See sley

Words from the same roots