slaugh (English)

Where does "slaugh" come from?

The English noun 'slaugh' is borrowed from Dutch 'sla'[1]. Within Dutch, 'sla' developed as a shortened form of 'salade' meaning 'salad' or 'lettuce'[1], originating from intermediate forms like 'slae' and 'salae' through the regular loss of the intervocalic consonant[2]. The Dutch word 'salade' itself was an earlier loan from Middle French 'salade', which ultimately traces back to Italian 'salata'[3].

Full etymology tree

• slaugh (English), 'Slaw.'
  • borrowed sla (Dutch), 'lettuce'
    • derived slae (Dutch)
      • derived salae (Dutch)
        • derived salade (Dutch), 'salad (a food made primarily of a mixture of raw ingredients, typically vegetables)'
          • borrowed salade (Middle French)
            • borrowed salata (Italian), 'feminine singular of salato'

Ancestors

• sla (Dutch)

Sources

1. slaugh (English) - Wiktionary
2. sla (Dutch) - Wiktionary
3. salade (Dutch) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris