Etymologically
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slow

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /sləʊ/, US /sloʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English slou, slowe,[2][3] inherited from Old English slāw (“sluggish, inactive; dull, not quick-witted”),[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *slæwaz,[4][2] of unknown origin.[2][5] It is cognate with Old Saxon slēu “blunt, dull”, Dutch slee, Old High German slēo and Old Norse sljór, slǽr “blunt, weak”.[4][2][3] Merriam-Webster compares Sanskrit srēvayati “causes to fail”.[3] The modern verb is a re-formation from the adjective, not a continuation of Old English slāwian.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inactive by nature, sluggish, lazy; not quick in understanding: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

“Taking a long time to happen” is from about 1200,[4] and “not quick to move, taking a long time to go a short distance” by the mid-14th century.[4] Of clocks, “behind the correct time”, it is from the 1690s,[4] and “dull, tedious” from 1841.[4] The adverb is from about 1500.[4][2] The verb, “to be slow”, is from about 1175;[2] “to make slower” is from 1557, and “to go slower” from 1594.[2][4] The noun the slows, an imaginary disease accounting for lethargy, is from 1843,[4][7] slowpoke is American English from 1848,[2] and slow motion in film is by 1922.[4]

Timeline

  • before 899 – sluggish; dull.[2]
  • c. 1175 – verb, to be slow.[2]
  • c. 1200 – taking a long time.[4]
  • mid-14th century – not quick to move.[4]
  • 1557 – verb, to make slower.[2]
  • 1690s – of clocks.[4]
  • 1841 – dull, tedious.[4]
  • 1848 – slowpoke.[2]
  • 1922 – slow motion.[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not moving or acting quickly; taking a long time.
  2. Of a clock, showing a time earlier than the correct one.
  3. Not quick to understand; dull.
  4. Not busy or lively: business is slow; tedious.
  5. Reluctant: slow to anger.

Adverb

  1. At a low speed; slowly: go slow.

Verb

  1. To make or become slower; to slacken.

Word family

  • slowly
  • slowness
  • slowish
  • sloth
  • ultraslow
  • go-slow
  • overslow
  • slo-mo
  • slowpoke
  • slow motion

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press