Etymology
1. c.1300, "to escape, to move softly and quickly," from M.L.G.
slippen "to glide, slide," from P.Gmc.
*slipanan (cf. O.H.G.
slifan, M.Du.
slippen, Ger.
schleifen "to glide, slide"), from PIE
*sleib- "slimy, slippery," from base
*(s)lei- "slimy, sticky, slippery" (see slime). Meaning "to lose one's footing" is from c.1340. The noun meaning "woman's sleeveless garment" is first recorded 1761. Meaning "mistake, minor fault" is from 1620. To
give (someone) the slip is from 1567. To
slip up "make a mistake" is from 1855; to
slip through the net "evade detection" is from 1902.
Slip-knot first attested 1659.
Slip-stream is from 1913.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-West Germanic *slippjander.
4. Old Saxon *slippiander.
5. Middle Low German slippender.?
6. Middle English slippen
7. English slip
8. From Middle English slippen, probably from Middle Low German slippen, from Old Saxon *slippian, from Proto-West Germanic *slippjan, from Proto-Germanic *slipjaną (“to glide”), an iterative form of *slīpaną (“to slip, slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyb- (“slimy; to slide”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”), or related to Proto-Germanic *slībaną (“to split”); related to Old English slipor (“slippery”).
9. Cognate with Saterland Frisian slipje (“to slip”), Dutch slippen (“to slip”), German Low German slippen. See: Proto-Germanic '
*slībaną', Frisian, Saterlandic 'slipje', Dutch '
slippen'.
Verbs referencing "slip"
Welsh
llithro.