slim English · revision 10308

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1657|origins=nl slim|origins=gem-pro *slimbaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈslɪm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|nl|slim|t=bad, sly, clever]] or Low German slim,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Middle Dutch slim, slimp, slanting, crooked, bad, wrong,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from Proto-Germanic *slembaz, oblique, crooked,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) source also of Middle High German slimp, slanting, awry, and German [[m|de|schlimm|t=bad]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Etymonline calls it of unknown origin;^(Etymonline) Barnhart compares Sanskrit lambate, hangs down.^(Barnhart 1988) It is not found in Middle English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Thin, slight, slender, usually with a suggestion of grace: 1657.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The pejorative sense of the Dutch and German existed earlier in the English noun slim, a lazy or worthless person (1548).^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) Small or of little substance is from before 1677,^(OED 1989) and of chances, meagre, from the 1670s.^(Etymonline) The sense sly, crafty is recorded in 1674,^(Barnhart 1988) and survives in South African English from Afrikaans.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986) The verb meant to do work carelessly in 1808,^(Etymonline) to make slender in 1862,^(Etymonline) and to reduce one's weight in 1930;^(Etymonline) ''slimmed-down'' is by 1946.^(Etymonline) ''Slim Jim'', a very thin person, is from 1887.^(Etymonline) In East Africa ''Slim'' is a name for AIDS, from its wasting effects (1985).^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1548 – a worthless person (noun).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1657 – slender.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1674 – sly, crafty.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1808 – to skimp work (verb).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1862 – to make slim.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1930 – to lose weight.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Small in width or thickness for its height or length; [[slender]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Small in amount or degree; [[meagre]]: ''slim chances''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make or become thinner, especially by dieting and exercise.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To reduce in size or extent, often with ''down''.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[slimly]]

+ * [[slimmer]]

+ * [[slimness]]

+ * [[slimline]]

+ * [[slimnastics]]

+ * [[unslim]]

+ * [[slimsy]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[slender]]

+ * [[lank]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire dialect, to slim was to go at a snail's pace, to slink.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}