English
slimy
Slimy comes from Middle English slymy.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slymy
- Englishearliest quotation 1798slimy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slymy
- Englishearliest quotation 1798slimy
Earliest quotation: 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy…”
Formed from slime + -y
Proto-Indo-European *sley- ‘smooth’
Proto-Germanic *slīmą
Proto-West Germanic *slīm
Old English slīm
Middle English slime
English slime
Every English word from Middle English slymy
Today it means
adj Of or pertaining to slime.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English slymy / slimy