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slur

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Pronunciation

slur1 mud; to disparage

Etymology

The noun meaning thin, fluid mud is inherited from Middle English slore, also sloor,[2][3][4][5][6] of obscure origin;[7][2][8] the verb meaning to smear, and later to disparage, is a conversion of it.[7][8][2][3] The OED compares Middle Dutch slore (“a sluttish woman”), modern Dutch sloor,[7][9] and Etymonline and Barnhart see a cognate in continental words for trailing in mud, such as Middle Low German slūren and Middle Dutch sloren (“to trail in mud”), with Middle High German slier (“mud”).[2][3][6] Klein, Skeat and Partridge take the Middle English noun from Middle Dutch.[10][11][12] Weekley thought slur2 perhaps cognate with it, and found that some senses cannot be assigned to one verb or the other;[4] Collins derives the whole word from Middle Low German.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thin or fluid mud: c. 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.[7][3] Etymonline dates slore to the mid-15th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to smear or sully, is first recorded in Marston's Antonio's Revenge (1602) and is now dialectal.[7][3] As with mud-slinging and aspersion, smearing led to criticising, and later to glossing over a fault, from which came the idea of speaking indistinctly.[14] Barnhart and the OED date both "to disparage" and "to pass over lightly" to 1660, in H. More,[7][3] and Etymonline puts "disparage" in the 1650s.[2] The noun "a deliberate slight" goes back to 1609,[7][6][3] and cast a slur on to 1654.[7] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "faint reproach; slight disgrace".[15] In music the verb is recorded from 1746 for singing or playing notes smoothly,[7][2] and the noun from 1786 for the curved line that marks them.[7] Blurring (1782, in Reynolds) led to slurred speech: the OED dates the intransitive sense to 1893, in Kipling, but Etymonline finds it by 1827.[7][3][2] Since 1888 a slur has also been an offensive term used against people for their race, sex or sexual orientation.[7] Merriam-Webster places the senses "pass over lightly" and the musical noun under slur2, not under this word.[6] In dialects from Scotland to Devon the verb meant to smear or daub and to sneer or jibe; in Derbyshire sheep were slurred when marked with raddle.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1440 – noun, thin or fluid mud.[7][3]
  • 1602 – to smear, stain, sully, in Marston's Antonio's Revenge.[7][3]
  • 1609 – noun, a deliberate slight.[7][6][3]
  • 1654 – cast a slur on.[7]
  • 1660 – to disparage; to pass over lightly.[7][3] Etymonline dates the sense to disparage to the 1650s.[2]
  • 1746 – in music, to sing or play notes smoothly.[7][2]
  • 1782 – to blur, make indistinct.[7][3]
  • 1786 – the curved line joining notes in music.[7]
  • 1861 – a slurred sound or utterance.[7]
  • 1888 – an offensive term of abuse.[7]
  • 1893 – of speech, to become indistinct.[7] Etymonline dates it by 1827.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pronounce words indistinctly, running the sounds together: By midnight he had begun to slur his words.[13][7][6]
  2. To disparage or cast aspersions on.[13][7][6]
  3. To pass over something lightly or carelessly, usually with over.[13][7][6]
  4. (music) To play or sing notes smoothly and without a break, or to mark them with a slur.[13][7]
  5. To blur or smudge, as in printing.[13][7][6]
  6. (dialect) To smear or soil.[6][7][16]

Noun

  1. An insulting or disparaging remark, especially an offensive term for a group of people: The coach apologized for the slur.[6][7][13]
  2. A stain on someone's reputation, especially in cast a slur on.[6][7][13]
  3. (music) A curved line over or under notes that are to be played or sung smoothly; also the notes so played.[7][6]
  4. An indistinct sound or utterance.[13][7]
  5. (printing) A blurred spot caused by the paper slipping during printing.[6][7]

Word family

  • unslurred

slur2 to slide; to cheat at dice

Etymology

The verb meaning to slide is perhaps borrowed from Low German slurrn (“to drag the feet, shuffle”),[7][8][6][17] compare German schlurren and schlorren,[7] Middle Low German slūren (“to drag, trail”) and Middle Dutch sloren, modern Dutch sleuren.[7][8][6][4] Dictionary.com likewise compares the Low German and Dutch verbs for its senses of gliding and smooth transition.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To slip or slide a die out of the box so that it does not turn, as a cheat: 1594, in Nashe's Unfortunate Traveller.[7][6] Munday and Drayton's Sir John Oldcastle (1600) has "dost thou not cog, nor foist, nor slur?"[17]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged first to gamblers' cheating: the noun for a way of cheating at dice is recorded from before 1643, in Cartwright's Ordinary,[7] the cheats called slur-boys in 1671,[17] and the verb "to cheat, cozen" in Butler's Hudibras (1664).[7] B.E.'s dictionary of cant (c. 1698) defines slur as a cheat at dice.[17] The noun also meant a gliding movement in dancing, from 1598 in Marston's Scourge of Villanie,[7][6] and the verb "to slide, slide about" from 1617, now only in dialect.[7] In northern English dialects it was used especially of sliding on ice in clogs, and of a cart-wheel skidding.[16] A slur in a knitting machine, a sliding part that presses down the sinkers, is recorded from 1796.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1594 – to slide a die so that it does not roll, to cheat.[7][6]
  • 1598 – noun, a gliding movement in dancing.[7][6]
  • 1617 – to slide, slide about (now dialect).[7]
  • before 1643 – noun, a way of cheating at dice.[7][17]
  • 1664 – to cheat or cozen.[7]
  • 1796 – a sliding part in a knitting machine.[7][8]
  • 1889 – to drag, move heavily.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (dialect) To slide or slip, especially on ice.[7][16]
  2. (obsolete) To slide a die out of the box so that it does not roll, in order to cheat.[6][7][8]

Noun

  1. A sliding part in a knitting machine that presses down the sinkers.[6][7][8]
  2. (obsolete) A gliding movement in dancing.[6][7][8]
  • slurry

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 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)
  17. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com