Etymologically
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sleek

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is a later variant of slick, used for both the verb and the adjective.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The verb is inherited from Middle English sleken, a variant of sliken (“to smooth, polish”),[6][9][3][2] which goes back to an Old English verb found only in nigslicod (“newly made sleek”).[3][2][10] The adjective is a variant of slike (“sleek, smooth”),[2][3][6][11] which probably represents an unrecorded Old English *slice, related to that verb.[2][10][12] The OED notes that an Old English adjective with a long vowel, printed in some dictionaries, is a misreading.[2] Skeat compares Old Norse slíkr (“sleek, smooth”),[13] and Ayto and Hoad compare Icelandic slíkja and Norwegian slikja, to be or make smooth, although the OED finds the connection with these unclear.[12][10][2] Etymonline relates the group to German schleichen (“to creep, sneak”) and Dutch slijk (“mud, mire”), and to Proto-Indo-European *sleig- (“to smooth, glide, be muddy, spread”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make smooth and glossy by rubbing or polishing: the verb sleken is first recorded about 1440 in the Promptorium Parvulorum, glossing a Latin word.[2][6][3] The adjective "perfectly smooth or polished" follows in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie (1589),[2][6] although Merriam-Webster dates it to 1578.[9][14]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was first used of smooth surfaces, and after 1600 also of the close, glossy coat of a well-kept animal: the OED's first example is Shakespeare's Bottom with his ass's head in A Midsummer Night's Dream.[2][3] From 1638, in Milton's Lycidas, it was applied to people with smooth skin and a well-fed look,[2][3] and Johnson (1755) quoted Shakespeare's "sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights".[15] The figurative sense, oily, fawning or plausible in manner, appears from about 1600 (1601 in the OED; the 1590s in Etymonline).[2][3] The verb had the parallel figurative senses of smoothing away a troubled look (Shakespeare's Macbeth) and of glossing over something (1871).[2] Later senses describe things with trim, graceful lines, such as a car, and a stylish or prosperous look.[14][9][16] Scottish dialect had sleek-gabbit, smooth-spoken or flattering, and sleek-stone, a polishing stone.[17]

Timeline

  • c. 1440 – verb, to make smooth by rubbing or polishing.[2][6][3]
  • 1508 – verb, to make the skin or hair smooth and glossy.[2]
  • 1589 – adjective, perfectly smooth or polished.[2][6] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1578.[9]
  • 1600 – of animals, having a smooth glossy coat.[2][3]
  • 1601 – oily, fawning, plausible.[2]
  • 1638 – of people, smooth-skinned and plump.[2][3]
  • 1871 – verb, to gloss over.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Smooth and glossy, as if polished: sleek black hair.[16][14][18][9]
  2. Of an animal, having a smooth, shiny coat as a sign of good health or care.[18][2][14]
  3. Well-groomed and stylish, or having a prosperous look.[16][14][18]
  4. Having trim, graceful, streamlined lines: a sleek new sports car.[14][1]
  5. Smooth or polished in speech or manner, often in an unctuous way.[16][14][18][2]

Verb

  1. To make smooth and glossy: She sleeked her hair back with gel.[16][14][18][2]
  2. To gloss over or cover up something unpleasant.[16][9][18][2]

Word family

  • sleekly
  • sleekness
  • sleeker

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary (1895), quoted by Etymonline, regarded slick as the older form, still common in speech, where sleek was often pronounced slick.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  17. ^ 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)
  18. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins