slut

See also: s'lut

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English slutt, slutte, slute (a dirty or slovenly person, usually a woman, scullery maid; messy animal to prepare as food; slush, mud), probably from Old English *slȳte (sleet), from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (sleet, hail), related to Proto-West Germanic *slaut (puddle, ditch). Compare Dutch slodder and slet, dialectal Swedish slata (idle woman), Norwegian sludd (sleet), and the dialectal Norwegian slutr (sleet, impure liquid). Doublet of sleet. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /slʌt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌt
  • (Northern England) IPA(key): /slʊt/
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈsɫɐt/

Noun

slut (plural sluts)

  1. (vulgar, often derogatory) A sexually promiscuous woman.
    dirty slut
    total slut
    1. (vulgar, by extension) A prostitute.
      You could hire a slut for a few hours, if you're that desperate.
  2. (vulgar, often derogatory) Any sexually promiscuous person.
    • 2005, Adam & Steve:
      Before he met you, he was such a whore. No, I'm sorry! Whores get paid. He was a slut.
  3. (figurative, vulgar, often derogatory) Someone who seeks attention through inappropriate means or to an excessive degree.
    a press slut
    • 2004 February 12, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic[1]:
      Dude: Since when did you become a political whore?
      Phil: I prefer the term political slut, thank you very much!
  4. (vulgar, figuratively, often derogatory) A disloyal individual; someone who does not commit to a particular thing.
    That guy was a job slut; he changed jobs way too often and quickly, to the point that employers will no longer hire him.
  5. (archaic, derogatory) A slovenly, untidy person, usually a woman.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      Clo. Truly, and to cast away honestie vppon a foule slut, were to put good meate into an vncleane dish. / Aud. I am not a slut, though I thanke the Goddes I am foule.
    • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      Where fires thou find’st unrak’d, and hearths unswept, / There pinch the Maids as blew as Bill-berry, / Our radiant Queene, hates Sluts, and Sluttery.
    • 1685, John Dryden, Slyvae: or, the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, "Lucretius: The Fourth Book. Concerning the Nature of Love,: lines 142-46:
      The doat on Dowdyes, and Deformity:
      E'en what they cannot praise, they will not blame,
      But veil with some extenuating name:
      The Sallow Skin is for the Swarthy put,
      And love can make a Slattern of a Slut
  6. (obsolete, derogatory) A bold, outspoken woman.
  7. (obsolete) A female dog.
    • 1852, Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the Bush[2]:
      ‘Bête!’ returned the angry Frenchman, bestowing a savage kick on one of the unoffending pups which was frisking about his feet. The pup yelped; the slut barked and leaped furiously at the offender, and was only kept from biting him by Sam, who could scarcely hold her back for laughing; the captain was uproarious; the offended Frenchman alone maintained a severe and dignified aspect.
    • 1905, Banjo Paterson, Old Bush Songs, page 42:
      He sent me to an old bark hut, / Inhabited by a greyhound slut, / Who put her fangs through my poor fut, / And, snarling, off she ran.
    • 1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 17:
      ‘Like a slut and all the dogs mounting her.’
  8. (obsolete) A maidservant.
    • 1661–1669 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “(please specify the entry date)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys [], volume (please specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons []; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:
      Our little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better.
  9. (obsolete) A rag soaked in a flammable substance and lit for illumination.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

slut (third-person singular simple present sluts, present participle slutting, simple past and past participle slutted)

  1. (vulgar) To wear slutty clothing or makeup, or otherwise behave in a slutty manner.
    • 2009, Shauna Cross, Whip It, →ISBN:
      In an effort to avoid any spontaneous slutting out, I give myself a stern look in the mirror. "You can make out with him, but that's it," I tell my boy-crazed reflection.
  2. (slang, vulgar, usually with around) To visit places frequented by men, with the intention of engaging in sexual intercourse by means of flirting.
    • 1998, David Baldacci, The Winner:
      Shirley, you slut around here again, and I swear to God I'll break your neck.
    • 2001 January, Dan Savage, “Sluts Like Us”, in Out, volume 9, number 7, page 37:
      The radicals are reluctant to admit that slutting around is a phase that most gay men go through, but not a permanent — what's that phrase? Oh, yes — "lifestyle choice."

Synonyms

See also

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈslut]

Participle

slut

  1. masculine singular passive participle of slout

Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /slut/, [sl̥ud̥]

Etymology 1

From Swedish slut, from Middle Low German slūt.

Adjective

slut

  1. over
  2. finished

Interjection

slut

  1. (radio communications) over and out, out (ending a conversation)

Noun

slut (uncountable)

  1. end

References

Etymology 2

Verb

slut

  1. imperative of slutte

Middle Low German

Etymology

Related to Proto-West Germanic *sleutan (to bolt, lock). Compare Middle High German sluz. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

slūt m or n

  1. end; conclusion

Descendants

  • Norwegian Nynorsk: slutt; (dialectal) slút
  • Swedish: slut

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

slut n (definite singular slutet, uncountable)

  1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by sludd

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

slut n (definite singular slutet, uncountable)

  1. (pre-2012) alternative form of sludd

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ukrainian слутий (slutyj).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /slut/

Adjective

slut m or n (feminine singular slută, masculine plural sluți, feminine and neuter plural slute)

  1. crippled
  2. ugly

Declension

Declension of slut
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative
indefinite slut slută sluți slute
definite slutul sluta sluții slutele
genitive-
dative
indefinite slut slute sluți slute
definite slutului slutei sluților slutelor

Synonyms

Antonyms

Serbo-Croatian

Participle

slut (Cyrillic spelling слут)

  1. masculine singular passive past participle of sluti

Swedish

Etymology

From Middle Low German slūt.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /slʉːt/
  • Audio; ett slut:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʉːt

Adjective

slut (only as predicative, not comparable)

  1. over, finished; which has come to an end
    Deras förhållande är slut.
    Their relationship is over.
  2. gone, no more; of which the last has been taken
    Kakorna är slut.
    There are no more cookies.
  3. exhausted; very tired

Derived terms

Noun

slut n

  1. end
    Jag tyckte om slutet av boken.
    I liked the end of the book.
    • 1999 November 17, 1973 års bibelkommission, “Uppenbarelseboken 22:13”, in Bibel 2000[3], © Svenska Bibelsällskapet, accessed at Bible.com, archived from the original on 24 July 2025:
      Jag är A och O, den förste och den siste, början och slutet.
      I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

Verb

slut

  1. imperative of sluta

References

Anagrams

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English slutte (sloven, slut), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /slʊt/

Noun

slut

  1. sloven
    Synonym: slouveen
    • 1867, “JAMEEN QOUGEELY EE-PEALTHE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 110, lines 5-6:
      If ich hadh Peeougheen a Buch, Meyleare a Slut, Peedher Ghiel-laaune, an Jackeen Bugaaune,
      If I had Hugh the Buck, Meyler the Sloven, Peter the Smart Man, and John Boggan,

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 68