schlep

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

schlep

/ʃlɛp/

Rhymes with -ɛp

Where it comes from

From Yiddish שלעפּן (shlepn, “to drag”), from Middle High German slepen, from Middle Low German slêpen, from or related to Old High German sleifen (“to drag”) and slifan (“to slip”), from Proto-West Germanic *sleupan.

Compare German schleppen (“to haul”) and its inherited doublet schleifen (“to drag”), Dutch slepen (“to drag”), Danish slæbe (“to haul”).

verb schleps · schlepping · schlepped · schlepp · shlep

Jewish, informal, slang, transitive To carry, drag, or lug. I'm exhausted after schlepping those packages around all day.
Jewish, informal, intransitive, slang To go, as on an errand; to carry out a task. I schlepped down to the store for some milk.
Jewish, informal, intransitive, slang To act in a slovenly, lazy, or sloppy manner. I just schlepped around the house on Sunday.
Similar: schlump

noun schleps

Jewish, New York City, informal, slang A long or burdensome journey. Sure you can go across town to get that, but it'd be a schlep.
Jewish, New York City, informal, slang A boring person, a drag; a good-for-nothing person. For every genuine, sincere, perceptive resident who is capable and willing to work and sacrifice, you've got 200-plus who are permanently classifiable as either hustlers, rip-off artists, freeloaders, ganefs, shleps, or out-and-out shmucks!
Jewish, New York City, informal, slang A sloppy or slovenly person. My father had class? I was completely taken aback. I had never heard my father described that way. To me, he was not a European gentleman but a schlep, someone who preferred chinos to gabardine, comfort to style. My mother used to say that if she hadn't made him go shopping, he would still be wearin
Jewish, New York City, informal, slang A “pull” or influence. He must have had a lot of schlep to get such good seats.

Translations

Every language

verb To carry or drag

Français	trimbaler, coltiner
Deutsch	(sich) schleppen

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"schlep." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/schlep. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

schlep. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/schlep

Chicago

"schlep." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/schlep.

BibTeX

@misc{schlep_2026,
  title = {schlep},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/schlep},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}