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
- Of a surface, having low friction, often due to...
Ancestry of “slippery”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | slipperie | — |
| 2 | Middle English | slipper | — |
| 3 | Old English | slipor | slippery, not easy to hold, moving easily;... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *slipr | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | slipraz | smooth; slippery |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)leyb- | slimy |
Words derived from “slippery”