Etymograph

English

sleight

Sleight comes from Middle English sleighte ‘Wit, shrewdness, judiciousness’, from Old Norse slœgð ‘cunning’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slak- ‘to hit, strike, throw’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*slak-‘to hit, strike, throw’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slahaną‘to hit, strike’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slōgiz‘cunning’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slōgiþōreconstructed
  5. Old Norsec. 800–1350slœgð‘cunning’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sleighte‘Wit, shrewdness, judiciousness’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1866sleight

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*slak-‘to hit, strike, throw’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slahaną‘to hit, strike’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slōgiz‘cunning’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slōgiþōreconstructed
  5. Old Norsec. 800–1350slœgð‘cunning’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sleighte‘Wit, shrewdness, judiciousness’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1866sleight

Earliest quotation: 1866, Henry Smith, Thomas Fuller: “If men have so many sleights to compass their…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *slak- ‘to hit, strike, throw’

sledge, 4 more

through Proto-Germanic *slahaną ‘to hit, strike’

slaughter, slay, slug, slag, slew, 4 more

through Proto-Germanic *slōgiz ‘cunning’

sly, slyly, 2 more

Today it means

noun Cunning; craft; artful practice.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *slak- / sleight

Shirt and support for this word