slim

See also: Slim, SLiM, and slím

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Dutch slim (“bad, sly, clever”), from Middle Dutch slim (“bad, crooked”), from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”). Compare Dutch slim (“smart, clever, crafty”) Middle High German slimp (“slanting, awry”), German schlimm (“bad”), West Frisian slim (“bad, dire”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪm

Adjective

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimmest)

1. Slender, thin.
   1. (of a person or a person's build) Slender in an attractive way.

      Movie stars are usually slim, attractive, and young.

   2. (by extension, of clothing) Designed to make the wearer appear slim.
   3. (of an object) Long and narrow.
   4. (of a workforce) Of a reduced size, with the intent of being more efficient.
2. (of something abstract like a chance or margin) Very small, tiny.

   I'm afraid your chances are quite slim.

   • 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Wolves' debatable third in the last 10 minutes, with the ball only crossing the line by the slimmest of margins if at all, ensured a cracking finale, although City would have been left aggrieved had they let the win slip.

3. (rural, Northern England, Scotland) Bad, of questionable quality; not strongly built, flimsy.

   A slimly-shod lad;

   a slimly-made cart.

4. (South Africa, obsolete in Britain) Sly, crafty.

Synonyms

• (slender in an attractive way.): lithe, svelte, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender
• (clothing):
• (long and narrow): fine, stalky, sticklike, thin, virgate
• (reduced workforce):
• (tiny; of something abstract): infinitesimal, marginal; see also Thesaurus:tiny
• (of questionable quality): flimsy, lousy, shoddy; see also Thesaurus:low-quality
• (crafty): cunning, frood; see also Thesaurus:wily

Translations

slender

• Arabic: نَحِيل‎ (naḥīl), نَحِيف‎ (naḥīf), أَهِيف‎ (ʾahīf)
• Azerbaijani: incə (az)
• Bashkir: ябыҡ (yabïq)
• Catalan: prim (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 苗條 (zh), 苗条 (zh) (miáotiáo), 纖細 (zh), 纤细 (zh) (xiānxì)

• Czech: štíhlý (cs) m
• Danish: slank (da), tynd (da)
• Dutch: slank (nl), dun (nl)
• Finnish: hoikka (fi), laiha (fi)
• French: mince (fr)
• German: schlank (de), schmal (de), dünn (de), schmal (de)
• Greek:

  Aeolic: βράδινος (brádinos)

  Ancient: ῥαδινός (rhadinós)

• Hindi: पतला (hi) (patlā)
• Hungarian: karcsú (hu), vékony (hu)
• Ido: dina (io)
• Indonesian: langsing (id), ramping (id)

• Irish: caol, tanaí, seang
• Italian: snello (it), magro (it), affusolato (it)
• Japanese: ほっそりした (hossori-shita), 細い (ja) (ほそい, hosoi), スリムな (ja) (surimu na)
• Korean: 날씬하다 (ko) (nalssinhada)
• Latvian: slaids, tievs, smuidrs m
• Macedonian: слаб m (slab), тенок m (tenok)
• Norwegian: slank, tynn (no)
• Polish: szczupły (pl) m
• Portuguese: magro (pt), esbelto (pt), esguio (pt), delgado (pt)
• Romanian: zvelt (ro), subțire (ro)
• Russian: стро́йный (ru) (strójnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: caol, seang
• Serbo-Croatian: vitak (sh), mršav (sh), mršav (sh)
• Spanish: flaco (es), delgado (es)
• Urdu: پتلا‎ (patlā)
• Volapük: lunedik (vo)
• Westrobothnian: späl
• Zazaki: barı m, bari f

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Noun

slim (plural slims)

1. A type of cigarette substantially longer and thinner than normal cigarettes.

   I only smoke slims.

2. (Ireland, regional) A potato farl.
3. (East Africa, uncountable) AIDS, or the chronic wasting associated with its later stages.
   • 2003, Charled F. Gilks, “HIV in the Developing World”, in David A. Warrell et al., editors, Oxford Textbook of Medicine‎^[2], volume Volume 1, 4th ed. edition, →ISBN, page 446:

     As in the West, only about 50 per cent of patients with slim fully investigated will have a putative pathogen identified.

4. (slang, uncountable) Cocaine.

Alternative forms

• (AIDS): Slim

Verb

slim (third-person singular simple present slims, present participle slimming, simple past and past participle slimmed)

1. (intransitive) To lose weight in order to achieve slimness.
2. (transitive) To make slimmer; to reduce in size.

Translations

lose weight

• Dutch: vermageren (nl), lijnen (nl), aan de lijn doen, afslanken (nl), diëten (nl)
• Finnish: laihduttaa (fi) (tr.), laihtua (fi) (intr.)
• French: maigrir (fr), mincir (fr)
• Greek: αδυνατίζω (el) (adynatízo)
• Ido: dineskar (io)

• Italian: dimagrire (it)
• Macedonian: слабее (slabee)
• Portuguese: emagrecer (pt)
• Spanish: adelgazarse (es), enflaquecer (es), enflaquecerse (es), enflacar (es)
• Telugu: సన్నబడు (sannabaḍu)

Anagrams

• MILs, MLIS, MSIL, SMIL, mils, misl

---

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse slím (“slime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliːm/, [sliːˀm]

Noun

slim c or n (singular definite slimen or slimet, uncountable)

1. slime
2. mucus

---

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch slim, slem, slimp, slemp, from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”), compare German schlimm (“bad”), English slim.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slɪm/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: slim
• Rhymes: -ɪm

Adjective

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimst)

1. intelligent, bright
2. clever, smart
3. (now dialectal, Eastern Dutch) wrong, incorrect, bad

Inflection

Inflection of slim
uninflected	slim
inflected	slimme
comparative	slimmer
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		slim	slimmer	het slimst het slimste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	slimme	slimmere	slimste
	n. sing.	slim	slimmer	slimste
	plural	slimme	slimmere	slimste
definite		slimme	slimmere	slimste
partitive		slims	slimmers	—

Synonyms

• intelligent
• scherpzinnig
• schrander
• sluw

Derived terms

• slimheid
• slimmerd
• slimmerik
• slimmigheid

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse slím

Noun

slim n (definite singular slimet, uncountable)

1. mucus, phlegm
2. slime

Derived terms

• slimhinne

References

• “slim” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “slim_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse slím

Noun

slim n (definite singular slimet, uncountable)

1. mucus, phlegm
2. slime

Derived terms

• slimhinne

References

• “slim” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

---

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slɪm/

Adjective

slim

1. bad
2. dire
3. difficult

Inflection

Inflection of slim
uninflected	slim
inflected	slimme
comparative	slimmer
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		slim	slimmer	it slimst it slimste
indefinite	c. sing.	slimme	slimmere	slimste
	n. sing.	slim	slimmer	slimste
	plural	slimme	slimmere	slimste
definite		slimme	slimmere	slimste
partitive		slims	slimmers	—

Further reading

• “slim (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011