Etymologically
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slut

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is slutte, of unknown origin.[2][3][4][5] Words of similar form and sense exist in several Germanic languages, but their relationship to one another and to this word is unclear:[2][6] Dutch slodde (“slovenly woman”) (1574), Swabian Schlutt, Schlutte (1590), Danish slatte (“untidy woman”), and perhaps Norwegian slott and dialectal Swedish slåta (“an idler”).[2][7][8][9] Skeat compared Icelandic slóttur (“a heavy, lumpish fellow”) and linked the word with slattern,[10] as does Merriam-Webster.[8] A connection has also been proposed with an element meaning mud or slush, as in Old English *sliet or *slyt and dialectal Norwegian slutr (“sleet”);[6][2][11] Suffolk dialect had slut for mud.[12] Weekley thought the word unconnected with sloven.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

An untidy, dirty or slovenly woman: 1402, in Hoccleve's Lepistre Cupide,[2][7] about 1400 in Etymonline, which cites the Coventry plays, where it is paired with sloven.[6] Chaucer already used sluttish in the late 14th century, of the appearance of an untidy man.[6][3][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense "a sexually promiscuous woman", now the main one, is recorded from ?c1425, again in Hoccleve,[2][7] but Etymonline notes that through the 18th century the chief sense was a woman careless of her person or house.[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a dirty woman", and secondly as a word of slight contempt for a woman.[14][6] A neutral or playful sense, a girl or wench, is recorded from a1592,[2] and Pepys used the word in 1664 for a kitchen maid or drudge.[2][6][11] Household phrases reflected the old sense: slut's wool, the dust left under beds by careless cleaning,[15][6] and in dialect slut's farthings or slut's pennies, hard lumps in badly kneaded bread.[12][6] From 1609 a slut was also a makeshift candle of rag dipped in fat,[2][15] and since 1811, chiefly in the United States and Australia, a female dog.[2][5] From 1984 the word has been applied to anyone of either sex thought to demean themselves for a goal, as in publicity slut,[2][16] and American campus slang uses it as an affectionate term of address among women.[16] The verb, to behave promiscuously, is recorded from 1946.[2]

Timeline

  • late 14th century – sluttish, in Chaucer.[6]
  • 1402 – an untidy, slovenly woman.[2][7]
  • ?c1425 – a promiscuous woman.[2]
  • a1592 – a girl, a wench, in neutral use.[2]
  • 1609 – a makeshift candle.[2]
  • 1664 – a kitchen maid, a drudge.[2]
  • 1811 – a female dog.[2]
  • 1946 – verb, to behave promiscuously.[2]
  • 1984 – a person who demeans themselves for a goal.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (offensive) A woman regarded as sexually promiscuous.
  2. (old-fashioned, derogatory) A dirty, untidy woman; a slattern.
  3. (derogatory, with a modifier) A person thought willing to do anything for a particular end: a publicity slut.
  4. (archaic) A female dog.

Word family

  • sluttish
  • sluttishly
  • sluttishness
  • slutty

Usage notes

The word is offensive in its modern sexual sense.[2][5] Dictionary.com notes that by the end of the 15th century the sense of a woman given to immoral conduct had arisen beside the older one of a slovenly woman or kitchen maid.[11]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b 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)
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com