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Etymology and origin of the English word slate

Merriam-Webster and the OED give slate, the rock, and slate, to criticize harshly, numbered entries of their own, and the sources disagree on whether the verb comes from the rock.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

slate1 rock; tablet; list

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
a1340, Richard Rolle's Psalter
Borrowed from
Old French esclate via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old French esclat

Etymology

The rock is inherited from Middle English sclate (also slate),[5][6][3] borrowed from Old French esclate, the feminine of esclat (“split piece, splinter”),[7][5][2] whose masculine form gave slat.[2][8] It was so called because the rock splits easily into thin plates.[6][5] Klein derives the masculine noun from esclater (“to break, burst”), from Frankish *slaitan (“to rend, tear”), related to slit.[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Roofing slates, or the stone they are made of: before 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter;[2] Barnhart dates the form sclate to about 1340, and Etymonline notes it in Anglo-Latin about 1300.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

A tablet of slate for writing on is recorded in a supplement to Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe (probably 1397).[9][2] The rock as a type of stone appears in 1653, and the bluish-grey colour in 1813, in a letter of Jane Austen.[2] In North America a list of candidates for election was called a slate from 1842,[2][9] after the idea of writing names on a slate board,[6] and the verb followed: to nominate a candidate from 1804 and to schedule or plan from 1883.[2][6] The writing slate also gave the figurative clean slate (1868) and on the slate, on credit (1909).[2] In film, a slate is the board held up before a take to identify it (1924).[2] The verb "to roof with slates" is from 1530 in the OED and the 1520s in Etymonline, with an earlier form sclatten in the late 15th century.[2][6] After about 1630 the forms with scl- survived only in northern English and Scots,[2] where the EDD still records sclate and sklate.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1340 – roofing slate.[5][2]
  • 1397 – a writing tablet.[9]
  • 1530 – verb: to roof with slates.[2]
  • 1653 – the rock.[2]
  • 1804 – verb: to nominate a candidate (US).[2]
  • 1813 – the colour.[2][6]
  • 1842 – a list of candidates (US).[2][9]
  • 1868 – figurative clean slate.[2]
  • 1883 – verb: to schedule.[2][6]
  • 1924 – the film clapperboard.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A fine-grained metamorphic rock that splits into thin, flat layers.
  2. A roofing tile made of this rock.
  3. (formerly) A writing tablet of slate.
  4. A dark bluish-grey colour.
  5. (chiefly North America) A list of candidates put forward for election.
  6. (film) A clapperboard.

Adjective

  1. Made of slate, or of its colour.

Verb

  1. To cover a roof with slates.
  2. To plan or schedule: The bridge is slated to reopen in June.
  3. (US) To put forward as a candidate.

Word family

  • slater
  • slaty
  • slating

slate2 criticize harshly

Confidence
Disputed
First attested
1825

Etymology

The verb meaning to beat or to criticize harshly is, according to the OED and Hoad, apparently formed from the rock noun above; the OED adds that the sense of beating seems to have arisen in Ireland.[2][11] Merriam-Webster takes it instead as probably an alteration of slat,[1] and Klein from the Middle English verb slaiten (“to set a dog on”), from Old English slǣtan (“to bait”).[3] Weekley, who also says it began in Ireland, mentions an 1865 explanation as knocking a man's hat over his eyes, but thinks it more likely to come from throwing slates, just as one might stone someone.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To beat or thrash severely: 1825.[2][1]

Semantic evolution

The meaning moved from beating to rebuking: to scold severely is recorded from 1840, and to criticize a book or an author harshly from 1848.[2] In military use it meant to punish an enemy heavily (1854).[2] A noun slate, a severe criticism, follows in 1887, in Andrew Lang,[2] and Green's Dictionary of Slang has it for a quarrel or reprimand in 1891.[13] Merriam-Webster labels the criticizing sense chiefly British.[1]

Timeline

  • 1825 – to beat or thrash severely.[2][1]
  • 1840 – to scold severely.[2]
  • 1848 – to criticize a book or author.[2]
  • 1887 – noun: a harsh criticism.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. (chiefly British) To criticize harshly, especially in a review: Critics slated the sequel.
  2. To beat or thrash severely.

Noun

  1. A harsh criticism.

Usage notes

Scots and northern English also had a verb slate, to set a dog on someone, which the OED and SOED derive from Old Norse;[2][14] the EDD records it from Scotland to Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire, also in the sense of driving someone away with abuse.[10] Scots slate "a dirty, slovenly person" (1718) is of unknown origin,[2][10] and in 16th-century thieves' cant a slate was a bedsheet.[13][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b c 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)
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Slate.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/slate. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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