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Added 9 October 2026

sleet

/sliːt/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sleet at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Pellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.
Precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.
A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain.

verb

To be in a state in which sleet is falling.
I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting.

Origin

From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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