slinks

slinks

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of slink

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 (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