Where does “slippery” come from?

Slippery comes from Middle English slipperie, from Middle English slipper, from Old English slipor, from Proto-Germanic slipraz, from Proto-Indo-European (s)leyb-.

slippery (English): Of a surface, having low friction, often due to...

Definitions

  1. Of a surface, having low friction, often due to...

Ancestry of “slippery”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishslipperie—
2Middle Englishslipper—
3Old Englishsliporslippery, not easy to hold, moving easily;...
4Proto-West Germanic*sliprslippery
5Proto-Germanicsliprazsmooth; slippery
6Proto-Indo-European(s)leyb-slimy

Words derived from “slippery”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)leyb- →Every word from Proto-Germanic slipraz →Every word from Proto-West Germanic *slipr →
slippery — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer