slender
/ˈslɛndɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Example Sentences
- "A rod is a long slender pole used for angling."
- "She is very slender."
- "Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind."
- "Smooth and slender and naked, Mary Rittersdorf faced her husband."
- "Being a person of slender means, he was unable to afford any luxuries."
- "The grounds for the conjecture are somewhat slender."
Etymology
From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre (“thin, slender”), from Middle Dutch slinder (“thin, lank”), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (“sliding, slippery”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃sleydʰ- (“to slip”). Cognate with Bavarian Schlenderling (“that which dangles”), German schlendern (“to saunter, stroll”), Dutch slidderen, slinderen (“to wriggle, creep like a serpent”), Low German slindern (“to slide on ice”). More at slide, slither.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: slendre, esclendre, slinder, *slindraz, *h₃sleydʰ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈslɛndɚ/
- British English: /ˈslɛndə/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- British usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.
Inflected Forms
slenderer (comparative)
more slender (comparative)
slenderest (superlative)
most slender (superlative)
slenders (present, singular)
slendering (participle, present)
slendered (participle, past)
slendered (past)
Slenders (plural)