slinks

slinks

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of slink

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

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slinks (comparative slinkser, superlative meest slinks or slinkst)

1. sneaky, underhanded, sly

• slinksheid

From a (still dialectally attested) verb slinkt (“to creep, to crawl, to go slowly”) (compare Lithuanian sliñkti (“to crawl slowly”)), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *slink-, from a reduced grade of Proto-Indo-European *slenk- (“to turn, to twist, to wind; to drag oneself, to creep, to crawl”) (perhaps in confluence with Proto-Indo-European *(s)lēg-, *(s)leg- (“to be languid”)). The meaning went from “to crawl, to creep” to “to move slowly, lazily,” “to be lazy,” or, for the adjective slinks, from “slow-moving” to “lazy.” Cognates include Lithuanian sliñkas.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [slīnks]

slinks (definite slinkais, comparative slinkāks, superlative visslinkākais, adverb slinki)

1. lazy (who is given to idleness, who typically does not like, is reluctant to work, to do something)

   slinks darbinieks, talcinieks ― lazy employee, helper

   slinks strādnieks, skolnieks ― lazy worker, schoolchild

   slinks zirgs ― lazy horse

• slinkums
• sliņķis