Etymology

sloth

S1L1O1T1H4

Today it means: Laziness; slowness of mind; disinclination to action or labour; a feeling combining indifference and lethargy; a dragging idleness. Full definition →

Middle English slouthe ← Old English slǣwþ ← Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*slaiwiþō“slowness, lateness”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*slaiwiþu
  3. Old English · inherited fromslǣwþ“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromslouthe
  5. English todaysloth

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishslouthe all →

slowth

Old Englishslǣwþ all →

sleuthslowth

Proto-Germanic*slaiwiþō all →

slowth

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.