slay
/sleɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.35 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To amaze, stun, or otherwise incapacitate by excellence; to excel at something.
noun
Something excellent, amazing, or fashionable.
Example Sentences
- "The knight slew the dragon."
- "Our foes must all be slain."
- "In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius ſtroke one of the Galles on the heade with his ſtaffe, because he preſumed to ſtroke his bearde: with whiche iniurie the Gaulle beeing prouoked, ſlue Papyrius (as he ſate) with hys ſworde, and therewith the ſlaughter being begun with one, all the reſidue of thoſe auncient fatherly men as they ſat in theyr Chayres were ſlaine and cruelly murthered."
- "The Prince of Morocco: […]By this scimitar, That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince That won three fields of Sultan Solyman, I would outstare the sternest eyes that look, Outbrave the heart most daring on earth, Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear, Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey, To win thee, lady. […]"
- "Slay not your children, fearing a fall to poverty, We shall provide for them and for you. Lo! the slaying of them is great sin."
- ""This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country. The heroes of my field have slain one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While the heroes of your field gathered in the desert to create a new one.""
Etymology
From Middle English sleen, slen, from Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognates Cognate with Alemannic German schlaa (“to beat, hit”), Central Franconian schlage, schlon, schloon (“to beat, hit, strike”), Dutch and Low German slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”), German schlagen, schlahen, schlahn (“to beat, hit, strike”), Luxembourgish schloen (“to beat, defeat, hit”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish slå (“to beat, hit, strike”), Faroese sláa (“to beat, strike”), Icelandic slá (“to hit, strike”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan, “to hit, smite, strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sleen, slēan, *slahan, *slahaną, *slak-
Usage
Inflected Forms
slays (present, singular)
slaying (participle, present)
slew (past)
slayed (past)
slain (participle, past)
slayed (participle, past)
yslain (obsolete, participle)
more slay (comparative)
most slay (superlative)
slays (plural)
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
annihilate
bag
baptize
bereave of life
blight
bring down
bump off
bury
cack
compromised to a permanent end
croak
crush