slur

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /slɝ/ UK /slɜː/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an insulting remark, or to pronounce words indistinctly

His remark was taken as a slur on her professional integrity.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an insulting remark, or to... insult aspersion smear stain stigma mumble

Opposites

compliment praise

Simplified etymology

Slur originally meant “thin, fluid mud” in medieval English. The verb first meant “to smear” and then “to criticize”; later senses included glossing over a fault and speaking indistinctly. Slurry comes from the same medieval word.

Etymology

From Middle English sloor ('thin mud'), related to Low German slurren ('to drag the feet'); the sense developed from 'to smear' to 'to disparage' and 'to pronounce indistinctly'.

sloor Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# slur

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /slɝ/
**IPA (UK):** /slɜː/

## Meanings
1. an insulting remark, or to pronounce words indistinctly

## Examples
- His remark was taken as a slur on her professional integrity.

## Synonyms
- insult
- aspersion
- smear
- stain
- stigma
- mumble

## Antonyms
- compliment
- praise

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sloor

## Etymology
From Middle English sloor ('thin mud'), related to Low German slurren ('to drag the feet'); the sense developed from 'to smear' to 'to disparage' and 'to pronounce indistinctly'.

## AI Etymology
Slur comes from Middle English sloor ('thin mud'), related to Low German slurren ('to drag the feet'); the sense developed from 'to smear' to 'to disparage' and 'to pronounce indistinctly'. The historical chain includes Middle English sloor. The quoted older senses, "thin mud", "to drag the feet", "to smear", "to disparage", and "to pronounce indistinctly", supply the semantic anchors for slur. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word slur carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "an insulting remark, or to pronounce words indistinctly". The result is a noun and verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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