slut

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*slautijǭ“sleet, hail”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*slautijā
3. Old English · inherited from*slȳte“sleet”
4. Middle English · inherited fromslutt
5. English todayslut

From Middle English slutt, slutte, slute (“a dirty or slovenly person, usually a woman, scullery maid; messy animal to prepare as food; slush, mud”), probably from Old English *slȳte (“sleet”), from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet, hail”), related to Proto-West Germanic *slaut (“puddle, ditch”). Compare Dutch slodder and slet, dialectal Swedish slata (“idle woman”), Norwegian sludd (“sleet”), and the dialectal Norwegian slutr (“sleet, impure liquid”). Doublet of sleet.

Words from the same roots