sluik
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -œy̯k
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch sluuc (“limp”), of uncertain origin. Possibly related to English slouch, which could be from Proto-Germanic *slakaz (“slack, weak”); or otherwise *slūm- (“slack, flabby”). Also compare sluimeren (“to slumber”) and the root of German schlau.
Adjective
sluik (comparative sluiker, superlative sluikst)
Declension
| Declension of sluik | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uninflected | sluik | |||
| inflected | sluike | |||
| comparative | sluiker | |||
| positive | comparative | superlative | ||
| predicative/adverbial | sluik | sluiker | het sluikst het sluikste | |
| indefinite | m./f. sing. | sluike | sluikere | sluikste |
| n. sing. | sluik | sluiker | sluikste | |
| plural | sluike | sluikere | sluikste | |
| definite | sluike | sluikere | sluikste | |
| partitive | sluiks | sluikers | — | |
Etymology 2
Deverbal from sluiken.
Noun
sluik f (uncountable)
- (obsolete) secrecy, sneakiness
Usage notes
- Even historically this word was mostly encountered in the phrase ter sluik ("secretly"), which has today morphed into a univerbation tersluiks, rendering this word obsolete as simplex.