slur (English)

Where does "slur" come from?

The English noun 'slur' traces back to Middle English 'sloor', which meant 'thin or fluid mud'[1]. The meaning of the term as an extremely offensive phrase was later influenced by various compounds of the original sense, such as racial and ethnic slurs[1].

Open questions

• The exact transition from the physical sense of mud to modern insult compounds involves several intermediate semantic shifts. [1]

Full etymology tree

• slur (English), 'An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.'
  • inherited sloor (Middle English)

Cognates and doublets

• sløre (Danish)

Descendants and derived words

• f-slur (English)
• Q-slur (English)
• Q-slur (English)
• r-slur (English)
• r-slurred (English)
• слюр (Ukrainian)

Related words

• insult (English)

Sources

1. slur (English) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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