English
slab
Slab comes from Middle English sclabbe.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English slab
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1859, John Lang, Botany Bay: “There were no windows in the inn. They were…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sclabbeWiktionary, English slab
- Englishearliest quotation 1859slabWiktionary, English slab. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1859, John Lang, Botany Bay: “There were no windows in the inn. They were…”
The story
From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (‘portion, piece’), along with slape (‘slippery’), sleip (‘smooth piece of timber’), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-West Germanic *slāp ‘sleep’
asleep, sleepy, sleepless, 1 more
through Old English slǣp ‘sleep’
Today it means
noun A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “slab”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Middle English sclabbe / slab