slit

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*(s)leyd-“to tear, rend (cut apart), split apart”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*slītaną“to tear apart”
3. Old English · inherited fromslītan
4. Middle English · inherited fromslitten
5. English todayslit

From Middle English slitten, from Old English slītan, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyd- (“to tear, rend (cut apart), split apart”). Possibly cognate with Latin laed- (“to strike, hurt, injure”). Doublet of slite; also related to slice through French borrowing. Apparently unrelated to English slot, whose etymology, however, is uncertain.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1640s The vulva.