Meanings
plural slovens
- A low, base, lewd person.
The follest slouen ondyr heuen, / Prowde, peuiche, lyddyr, and lewde, / Malapert, medyllar, nothyng well thewde, […]
The foullest sloven under heaven, / Proud, peevish, lither, and lewd, / Malapert, meddler, nothing well thewed, […]
a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Poems against Garnesche. Skelton Laureate Defendar ageinst Lusty Garnyshe Well Beseen Crystofer Chalangar, et cetera.”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 130, lines 145–147
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA habitually dirty or untidy man or boy; the male equivalent of slattern, or slut.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latin-ānus
- Old French-ain
- Proto-Germanic*slup-
- Middle Dutchsloef“untidy, shabby”
- Middle Englishsloveyn
- Englishsloven
From Middle English sloveyn, from Middle Flemish sloovin (“a scold”). Related to Middle Dutch sloef (“untidy, shabby”), from Proto-Germanic *slup- + Old French -ain, from Latin -ānus.
More words from Middle English, Middle Dutch, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian повлекан
- повлекан (povlekan)man or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
Czech špindíra
- špindíraman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
Finnish hamppari, hampuusi
- hamppariman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- hampuusiman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
Polish abnegat, abnegat
- abnegatman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- abnegatman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
Russian неря́ха, замара́шка
- неря́ха (nerjáxa)man or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- замара́шка (zamaráška)man or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- грязну́ля (grjaznúlja)man or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- растрёпа (rastrjópa)man or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
Swedish slusk, lortgris
- sluskman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- lortgrisman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- slarverman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
- hafserman or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sloven
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
sloven. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sloven
“sloven.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sloven. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sloven,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sloven.
Source: sloven on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.