slim

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈslɪm/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Dutch slim (“bad, sly, clever”) or Low German slim,^[2][3][4] from Middle Dutch slim, slimp, slanting, crooked, bad, wrong,^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *slembaz, oblique, crooked,^[3][2] source also of Middle High German slimp, slanting, awry, and German schlimm (“bad”).^[3][4] Etymonline calls it of unknown origin;^[3] Barnhart compares Sanskrit लम्बते (lambate), hangs down.^[2] It is not found in Middle English.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thin, slight, slender, usually with a suggestion of grace: 1657.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The pejorative sense of the Dutch and German existed earlier in the English noun slim, a lazy or worthless person (1548).^[7][5] Small or of little substance is from before 1677,^[5] and of chances, meagre, from the 1670s.^[3] The sense sly, crafty is recorded in 1674,^[2] and survives in South African English from Afrikaans.^[7][4] The verb meant to do work carelessly in 1808,^[3] to make slender in 1862,^[3] and to reduce one's weight in 1930;^[3] slimmed-down is by 1946.^[3] Slim Jim, a very thin person, is from 1887.^[3] In East Africa Slim is a name for AIDS, from its wasting effects (1985).^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1548 – a worthless person (noun).^[5]
• 1657 – slender.^[5]
• 1674 – sly, crafty.^[2]
• 1808 – to skimp work (verb).^[3]
• 1862 – to make slim.^[3]
• 1930 – to lose weight.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Small in width or thickness for its height or length; slender.
2. Small in amount or degree; meagre: slim chances.

Verb

1. To make or become thinner, especially by dieting and exercise.
2. To reduce in size or extent, often with down.

Word family

• slimly
• slimmer
• slimness
• slimline
• slimnastics
• unslim
• slimsy

Related words

• slender
• lank

Usage notes

In Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire dialect, to slim was to go at a snail's pace, to slink.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ 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)