sleuth

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sluːθ/ (UK); /sluːθ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

A shortening of sleuthhound “bloodhound”,^[2][3][4][5] whose first part is Middle English sloth “track, trail”,^[2][5] borrowed from Old Norse slóð (“track, trail”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun first meant the track or trail of a person or animal.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Sleuth-hound, the bloodhound, came figuratively to mean a keen investigator,^[5][2] and the short form sleuth for a detective is recorded in 1872,^[5][6][3] in sensational New York stories about “Old Sleuth” the detective.^[5] A verb followed by 1900.^[5][3][6]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – sloth, a track or trail.^[6][2]
• late 14th century – sleuth-hound, bloodhound.^[5]
• 1846 – sleuth-hound, keen investigator.^[5]
• 1872 – sleuth, a detective.^[5][6][3]
• 1900 – verb, implied in sleuthing.^[5][6][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A detective.
2. A bloodhound.

Verb

1. To act as a detective; to investigate.
2. To track or trail.

Word family

• sleuthlike
• supersleuth
• sleuthhound

Usage notes

The OED records an unrelated sleuth meaning “sloth, laziness”, now obsolete.^[6]

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press