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Added 9 October 2026

slip

/ˈslɪp/ verb

Categories: ActionsMind & IdeasEveryday Words

In Latin: lābor Wiktionary

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

  1. To lose one’s traction on a slippery surface; to slide due to a lack of friction.
  2. To accidentally reveal a secret or otherwise say something unintentionally.
  3. To move or fly (out of place); to shoot; often with out, off, etc.
    A bone may slip out of place.

noun

  1. An act or instance of slipping.
    I had a slip on the ice and bruised my hip.
  2. A woman's undergarment worn under a skirt or dress to conceal unwanted nudity that may otherwise be revealed by the skirt or dress itself; a shift.
  3. A slipdress.

noun

  1. A twig or shoot; a cutting.
    a slip from a vine
  2. A descendant, a scion.
  3. A young person (now usually with of introducing descriptive qualifier).
    She couldn't hurt a fly, young slip of a girl that she is.

noun

  1. A thin, slippery mix of clay and water.
  2. Mud, slime.

Origin

From Middle English slippen, probably from Middle Low German slippen, from Old Saxon *slippian, from Proto-West Germanic *slippjan, from Proto-Germanic *slipjaną (“to glide”), an iterative form of *slīpaną (“to slip, slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyb- (“slimy; to slide”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”), or related to Proto-Germanic *slībaną (“to split”); related to Old English slipor (“slippery”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian slipje (“to slip”), Dutch slippen (“to slip”), German Low German slippen.

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

Related Words: strippillowcasecuttingslickslipupmooringmoorageshiftberthskidchemiseteddy

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