sloth

Pronunciation

• IPA: /slɒθ/, /sləʊθ/ (UK); /slɔθ/, /sloʊθ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English slouthe, slauthe,^[2][3][4] formed from slou, slowe (“slow”) (see slow) and the abstract noun suffix -th.^{[5][2][3][6][4]} It replaced the earlier sleuthe, from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence”), from slǣw, a variant of slāw (“slow”);^[3][4][7][8] the modern form may also be the old word with its vowel conformed to the adjective.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Physical or mental inactivity; idleness, laziness (c. 1175 in the OED; before 1150 in Barnhart; late 12th century in Etymonline).^[9][2][3]

Semantic evolution

As one of the deadly sins it translates Latin accidia,^[3] spiritual apathy and neglect of virtue.^[6][10] The literal sense “slowness, tardiness” is recorded from about 1380 and is now archaic.^[9][2][10] In the 15th century it appears as a term of venery for a company of bears.^[9][5] From 1613 it names the slow-moving tree-dwelling mammal of South and Central America,^[9][2][4] a translation of the Portuguese name preguiça “laziness” or Spanish perezoso “slothful”, given by early explorers.^[11][12][13] In southern India the name was sometimes transferred to the loris.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – idleness, laziness.^[9]
• c. 1380 – slowness, tardiness.^[9][2]
• c. 1452 – a company of bears.^[9]
• 1613 – the South American mammal.^[9][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Unwillingness to work or exert oneself; laziness, indolence.
2. Spiritual apathy and inactivity, counted as one of the seven deadly sins.
3. Any of various slow-moving arboreal mammals of South and Central America that hang upside down from branches by long hooked claws and feed on leaves, such as the three-toed and two-toed sloths.
4. A company of bears.
5. (archaic) Slowness, tardiness.

Word family

• slothful
• ground sloth

Related words

• slow
• sloth bear
• acedia
• sluggard

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray