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Etymology and origin of the English word slab

English has two main words spelled slab: the noun for a thick flat piece, of unknown origin, and a dialect adjective meaning "thick, viscous", probably from Scandinavian.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

slab1 thick flat piece

Confidence
Unknown
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1290 South English Legendary
Inherited from
Middle English slabbe

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English slabbe, also sclabbe,[5][6][2][7] of unknown origin.[1][5][8][9][3] A borrowing from Old French esclape (“splinter, thin fragment of wood”) has been suggested, but the OED rejects it because the form does not fit,[1][6] and Barnhart thinks this and a link with the dialect word slappel (“a piece”) are connected only by meaning and too distant in form or time.[5] Klein took it as possibly Gaulish, comparing Old French escopel (“splinter, chip”), Breton scolp and Welsh ysgolp (“splinter, chip”).[10][6] Partridge suggested a link with Middle French esclate (“fragment”), now éclat,[11] and Weekley thought that, since it was first used of metal, it might first have meant a molten mass and be connected with the adjective slab2.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flat, broad and fairly thick piece of something solid: about 1290, in the South English Legendary;[1] Barnhart dates sclabbe to about 1300 and slab to before 1325.[5] In early use it was said of iron, later of wood and stone.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

From 1573, in Tusser, a slab was also the rough outer plank sawn off a log before the rest is squared or cut into boards,[1][6] In Australia and New Zealand it has meant, since 1829, a coarse plank hewn with an axe, used for huts.[1][13] From the 18th century it was a flat piece of stone or wood used as a table or counter (1739), then a stone for grinding colours or spreading printing ink (1859), a stone hearth (1876) and the stone on which a body is laid in a mortuary (1903).[1] In the 20th century it became a word of architecture: a pre-cast block of reinforced concrete (1927) and a plain high-rise block (1952).[1][6] Mountaineers use it for a large smooth sheet of rock lying at an angle (1904).[1][13] The verb, formed from the noun, meant to dress timber by removing the slabs from 1703, and later to form into slabs and to pave or support with slabs.[1][2][8] The American slab-sided, with flat sides, hence tall and lank, is recorded from 1817.[6] In English dialects a slab was also a thick slice of food, a flagstone, a dairy table and, in Cornwall, a kitchen range.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – a flat, broad, thick piece of something solid.[1]
  • 1573 – the rough outer plank cut from a log.[1][6]
  • 1703 – verb, to dress timber by removing the slabs.[1][2]
  • 1739 – a flat piece of stone or wood used as a table or counter.[1]
  • 1817 – slab-sided.[6]
  • 1829 – in Australia and New Zealand, an axe-hewn plank.[1]
  • 1903 – the stone on which a body is laid in a mortuary.[1]
  • 1904 – in mountaineering, a smooth sheet of rock.[1]
  • 1927 – a pre-cast block of reinforced concrete.[1][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A broad, flat, fairly thick piece of stone, wood, metal or other solid material: The garden path was laid with granite slabs.[13][2][1]
  2. A thick slice of food, such as cake or meat.[13][2][14]
  3. One of the rough outer pieces sawn off a log when it is squared or cut into planks.[13][2][1]
  4. In mountaineering, a large sheet of smooth rock lying at a steep angle.[13][1]
  5. (informal, chiefly British) A table in an operating theatre or a mortuary.[13][1]
  6. In building, a block of pre-cast reinforced concrete.[1][6]

Verb

  1. To cut or form into slabs.[2][1][8]
  2. To remove the outer slabs from a log.[2][1]
  3. To cover, pave or support with slabs.[2][1][8]
  4. To put on thickly, as with a knife: She slabbed jam on her toast.[2][1]

Word family

  • slab-sided
  • slablike
  • paving slab

slab2 thick, viscous

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1616 before 1616, Shakespeare, Macbeth

Etymology

The adjective is probably of early Scandinavian origin.[1][2][3] It is related to the dialect noun meaning mud or a puddle,[1][8] which is apparently Scandinavian too: the OED and Hoad compare older Danish slab (“mud, mire”) and Icelandic slabb, Norwegian slabb and Swedish slabb (“wet filth, slops”),[1][3] and MWU names an obsolete Danish slab, slippery.[2] Irish slab and Scottish Gaelic slaib (“mire, mud”) are probably from English.[1] The Middle English verb slabben (“to wallow”) may belong here; the MED compares Norwegian slabbe (“to make a mess”).[15][1] Johnson took the adjective to be of the same origin as slabber or slaver.[16][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thick, semi-solid, viscous: in Shakespeare's Macbeth, where the witches make "the gruel thick and slab", before 1616,[1][16][14] though MWU dates its first use to 1605.[2]

Semantic evolution

Weekley found the adjective only in Macbeth before the 19th century,[12] and the SOED notes that it occurs chiefly in the phrase thick and slab, after Shakespeare.[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "thick; viscous; glutinous" and gave a second entry for the noun, a puddle.[16] The noun meant a muddy place or puddle from 1610 and slimy matter or ooze from 1622, and is now dialectal.[1][8] Wright's dialect dictionary records the adjective in Lancashire and Suffolk, the noun "puddle, wet place" in northern England and East Anglia, and in Yorkshire, East Anglia and Kent a slab for a drudge or a dyer's or bricklayer's helper.[14] MWU adds a figurative sense, of writing that is sloppily sentimental or laid on too thickly.[2]

Timeline

  • 1605 – first known use according to MWU.[2]
  • before 1616 – thick, viscous, in Macbeth.[1]
  • 1610 – noun, a muddy place, a puddle.[1]
  • 1622 – noun, wet and slimy matter, ooze.[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (dialect or literary) Thick and sticky; viscous.[2][8][1][14]
  2. Sloppily sentimental, or laid on too thickly.[2]

Noun

  1. (dialect) A muddy place or puddle.[1][8][14][2]
  2. (rare) Wet, slimy matter; ooze.[1][8]

Word family

  • slabby

Usage notes

Several minor words share the spelling.[2][1] A verb slab, to eat or drink hastily and messily, now Scots, is probably from Middle Dutch slabben or Low German.[1][8][14] The nautical slab, the slack part of a sail, is probably short for slab line,[2][1] and in angling, originally in New Zealand, a slab is a weak or spent game fish, of uncertain origin.[1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  12. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  16. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
Cite this entry

“Slab.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/slab. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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