Etymograph

English

slug

Slug comes from Middle English slugge ‘lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slugge1‘lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1590slug1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English slug
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto I: “To slug in slouth and sensuall delights.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sluggeWiktionary, English slug‘lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1590slugWiktionary, English slug. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto I: “To slug in slouth and sensuall delights.”

The story

Originally referred to a slow, lazy person, from Middle English slugge (‘lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness’), probably of either Old English or Old Norse origin; perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sliǵ-ōn, from *sley- (‘smooth; slick; sticky; slimy’) or otherwise from the root of Old Norse slókr (‘lazy person, oaf’), whence Icelandic slókur (‘laziness’). The sense of a hitchhiking commuter is from the sense of a counterfeit bus token. Bus operators considered sluggers to be cheating as if they were using counterfeit tokens.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Middle English slugge ‘lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness’

sludge, slouch

Another origin of slug

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*slak-‘to hit, strike, throw’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slahaną‘to hit, strike’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slagiz‘a blow, strike’uncertainderived within Proto-Germanic
  4. Englishtodayslug

Also compare slog.

Today it means

noun Any of many gastropod mollusks, having no (or only a rudimentary) shell.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “slug”. 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 slugge / slug

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