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Slender

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slender¹

  • /ˈslɛndə/ UK
  • /ˈslɛndɚ/ Canada, US
  • /ˈslendə/ Australia, New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɛndə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre (“thin, slender”), from Middle Dutch slinder (“thin, lank”), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (“sliding, slippery”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃sleydʰ- (“to slip”). Cognate with Bavarian Schlenderling (“that which dangles”), German schlendern (“to saunter, stroll”), Dutch slidderen, slinderen (“to wriggle, creep like a serpent”), Low German slindern (“to slide on ice”). More at slide, slither.

adjective slenderer · more slender · slenderest · most slender

  1. Thin; slim. A rod is a long slender pole used for angling.
  2. figuratively Meagre; deficient. Being a person of slender means, he was unable to afford any luxuries.
  3. Palatalized.

Similar: svelte, willowy, scarce, sparse, gaunt, gracile, lank, lean, leansome, lithesome, lissome, rangy

verb slenders · slendering · slendered

  1. transitive To attenuate. Rolled-up sleeves bared her strong forearms, which slendered down when they came to the wrists and hands.

Slender²

Where it comes from

From the character of Abraham Slender in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor.

noun Slenders

  1. UK, obsolete, slang A simple country gentleman. […] the fantastic pilgrimages imposed on the "Cousin Slenders" of the world by their more facetious comrades […]

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