Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗That slays (in any sense).
To kill; to murder. · To eradicate or stamp out. · To defeat; to overcome (in a competition or contest). · To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter.
Something excellent, amazing, or fashionable.
Used to express approval or amazement.
From Middle English sleen, slen, from Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognates Cognate with Alemannic German schlaa (“to beat, hit”), Central Franconian schlage, schlon, schloon (“to beat, hit, strike”), Dutch and Low German slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”), German schlagen, schlahen, schlahn (“to beat, hit, strike”), Luxembourgish schloen (“to beat, defeat, hit”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish slå (“to beat, hit, strike”), Faroese sláa (“to beat, strike”), Icelandic slá (“to hit, strike”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan, “to hit, smite, strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionsleenenm
- Inherited-form mentionslēanang · to hit, punch, strike; to kill
- Inherited-form mention*slahangmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*slahanągem-pro · to hit, strike; to kill
- Derivation mention*slak-ine-pro · to hit, strike, throw
- Cognate mentionschlaagsw · to beat, hit
- Cognate mentionschlagegmw-cfr
- Cognate mentionschlagende
- Cognate mentionschloenlb · to beat, defeat, hit
- Cognate mentionsláafo · to beat, strike
- Cognate mentionsláis · to hit, strike
- Cognate mention𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽got · to hit, smite, strike
This page abbreviates 2 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"1": "en",
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"3": "sleen"
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"expansion": "Middle English sleen"
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{
"name": "inh",
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"2": "ang",
"3": "slēan",
"t": "to hit, punch, strike; to kill"
},
"expansion": "Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
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"3": "*slahan"
},
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},
{
"name": "inh",
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"3": "*slahaną",
"t": "to hit, strike; to kill"
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"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
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"3": "*slak-",
"t": "to hit, strike, throw"
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"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”)"
},
{
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"expansion": "Cognates"
},
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"name": "cog",
"args": {
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"2": "schlaa",
"t": "to beat, hit"
},
"expansion": "Alemannic German schlaa (“to beat, hit”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
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"2": "schlage"
},
"expansion": "Central Franconian schlage"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl,nds",
"2": "slaan",
"t": "to beat, hit, strike"
},
"expansion": "Dutch and Low German slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "schlagen"
},
"expansion": "German schlagen"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "lb",
"2": "schloen",
"t": "to beat, defeat, hit"
},
"expansion": "Luxembourgish schloen (“to beat, defeat, hit”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da,nb,nn,sv",
"2": "slå",
"t": "to beat, hit, strike"
},
"expansion": "Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish slå (“to beat, hit, strike”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fo",
"2": "sláa",
"t": "to beat, strike"
},
"expansion": "Faroese sláa (“to beat, strike”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "is",
"2": "slá",
"t": "to hit, strike"
},
"expansion": "Icelandic slá (“to hit, strike”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "got",
"2": "𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽",
"t": "to hit, smite, strike"
},
"expansion": "Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan, “to hit, smite, strike”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
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"sleen#Middle_English"
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[
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[
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],
[
"*slahan",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/slahan"
],
[
"*slahaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/slahaną"
],
[
"*slak-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/slak-"
],
[
"schlaa",
"schlaa#Alemannic_German"
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[
"schlage",
"schlage#Central_Franconian"
],
[
"schlon",
"schlon#Central_Franconian"
],
[
"schloon",
"schloon#Central_Franconian"
],
[
"Dutch",
"slaan#Dutch"
],
[
"slaan",
"slaan#Low_German"
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[
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"schlagen#German"
],
[
"schlahen",
"schlahen#German"
],
[
"schlahn",
"schlahn#German"
],
[
"schloen",
"schloen#Luxembourgish"
],
[
"Danish",
"slå#Danish"
],
[
"Norwegian Bokmål",
"slå#Norwegian_Bokmål"
],
[
"Norwegian Nynorsk",
"slå#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
],
[
"slå",
"slå#Swedish"
],
[
"sláa",
"sláa#Faroese"
],
[
"slá",
"slá#Icelandic"
],
[
"𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽",
"𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽#Gothic"
],
[
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"slaughter#English"
],
[
"onslaught",
"onslaught#English"
]
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"To eradicate or stamp out.",
"To defeat; to overcome (in a competition or contest).",
"To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter."
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