slum English · revision 1550

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|formation=clipping|attested=1812}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /slʌm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is shortened from [[m|en|back slum|t=back alley or street inhabited by poor people]] (1825),^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) originally a slang or cant word meaning “room”, especially “back room” (1812).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Like most cant words it is of unknown origin.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Klein 1966) Partridge suggests a back-formation from [[slumber]], from the idea that such back streets were quiet,^(Partridge 1966) and Skeat compared dialect [[m|en|slump|t=wet mire]] and [[nds|slam|t=mire]].^(Skeat 1911)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A room (1812 in the OED, Barnhart and Etymonline);^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Green's Dictionary of Slang records the cant word for a room or place of confinement in 1791.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By 1825 the word meant a back street or court in a crowded district inhabited by the poor,^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) and by 1845 a whole squalid district of a city.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) In 1812 it could also mean nonsensical talk or writing.^(Etymonline)^(GDoS) The verb ''to slum'' meant to visit slums for disreputable purposes or in search of vice (by 1860),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and, from 1884, to visit them out of curiosity or for charity,^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) a pastime encouraged by reform pamphlets such as ''The Bitter Cry of Outcast London'' (1883) and East End novels.^(Etymonline)^(Weekley 1921) The sense “to live or go somewhere below one's usual standard”, as in ''slumming it'', is recorded from 1928.^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1812 – a room (cant).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1812 – nonsense, humbug.^(Etymonline)^(GDoS)

+ * 1825 – ''back slum'', a poor back street.^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1845 – a squalid district of a city.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1884 – verb, to visit slums.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1900 – ''slum clearance''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1928 – to accept conditions below one's usual standard.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A heavily populated urban area with run-down, overcrowded housing and [[squalor]], often in the plural.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any squalid, run-down place to live.^(RHWU)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Cheap prizes given at [[carnival]] games.^(MWU 2024)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To visit slums or squalid places, especially out of curiosity or for amusement.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To go somewhere or do something considered beneath one's station, often as ''slum it''.^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[slummer]]

+ * [[slummy]]

+ * [[slumdweller]]

+ * [[slumlord]]

+ * [[slumism]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[slumber]]

+ * [[ghetto]]

+ * [[slumgullion]]

+ * [[tenement]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}