Etymology

slot

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Today it means: A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it. Full definition →

Middle English slot ← Old French esclot ← Old Norse slóð
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slot · noun, verb1

  1. Old Norse · derived fromslóð“track”
  2. Old French · derived fromesclot
  3. Middle English · inherited fromslot
  4. English todayslot

From Middle English slot, from Old French esclot, likely from Old Norse slóð (“track”). As a gambling machine, via clipping of slot machine. Compare sleuth. The scheduling (calendar) sense is by a metaphor whereby the time span is equated with the segment of a page or part of a device that represents it.

slot · noun, verb2

  1. Middle Dutch · derived fromsluten“to close, to lock”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*slutą
  3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*slot
  4. Middle Dutch · derived fromslot
  5. Middle Low German · derived fromslot
  6. Middle English · inherited fromslot
  7. English todayslot

From Middle English slot, from Middle Low German slot or Middle Dutch slot, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *slot, from Proto-Germanic *slutą, related to the verb *sleutaną (“to lock”). Cognate with Dutch slot, German Schloss (“door-bolt”). The verb is probably from Middle Dutch sluten (“to close, to lock”) (Modern Dutch sluiten (“to close”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.