slow

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sleyH-u-“bad”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*slaiwaz“blunt; dull; exhausted, faint, sluggish, weak, weary; listless, torpid; dim-witted, slow; lazy, slack”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*slaiw
4. Old English · inherited fromslāw“lazy; inert, slow”
5. Middle English · inherited fromslaw
6. English todayslow

From Middle English slaw, slow, from Old English slāw (“lazy; inert, slow”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiw, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz (“blunt; dull; exhausted, faint, sluggish, weak, weary; listless, torpid; dim-witted, slow; lazy, slack”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH-u- (“bad”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch slee, sleeuw (“cramped, stiff; blunt; sour”), Danish sløv (“blunt; dull; apathetic, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid; drowsy”), Icelandic sljór (“dim-witted; blunt; jaded”), Norwegian Nynorsk sljo, slø, sløv (“blunt; weak; lazy”), Swedish slö (“dull; lazy, lethargic, slow, sluggish”).

Words from the same roots