slaught

S1L1A1U1G2H4T1

noun

Killing; slaughter.

OriginMiddle English slaught ← Old English sliht ← Proto-Germanic *slahtō →
Scrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounslaught (plural slaughts)

plural slaughts

  1. obsoleteKilling; slaughter.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*slek-“to beat, pound”
  2. Proto-Germanic*slahtō
  3. Old Englishsliht
  4. Middle Englishslaught
  5. Englishslaught

From Middle English slaught, slagt, slaȝt, from Old English sliht, sleaht, sleht, slieht (“a stroke, a striking, a flash of lightning, slaughter, murder, death by violence, the deadly stroke of disease, battle, what is to be killed, animals for slaughter”), from Proto-Germanic *slahtō, *slahtiz (“beating, hitting, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *slek- (“to beat, pound”). Cognate with Dutch slacht (“slaughter”), German Schlacht (“killing, battle”), Swedish slakt (“slaughter”), Icelandic slátta (“slaughter”). Related to English slay.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

slaught. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaught

MLA

“slaught.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaught. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slaught,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaught.

Source: slaught on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.