Slob Was Irish Mud Before It Was a Lazy Person
A slob is a slovenly person. The word originally meant soft mud.
A slob is a slovenly or lazy person. The word came from Irish *slab*, meaning mud, and in nineteenth-century Ireland *slob* still named soft muddy ground — the Slobs at Wexford are tidal mudflats famous for wintering geese. The insult came from calling a person mud. English has a whole cluster of *sl-* words for the unpleasantly soft and messy: *slop*, *slush*, *sludge*, *slime*, *slobber* and *sloppy*, a sound pattern speakers feel without noticing.
- A slovenly person. *Don't be a slob.*
- Soft mud (Irish). *The Wexford Slobs.*
- Slobbish. *Slobbish habits.*
- Slobber — a relative. *To slobber.*
- Irish — *slab*, mud. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | slob | A slob. |
| Plural | slobs | Slobs. |
| Adjective | slobbish | Slobbish. |
| Related | slobber | To slobber. |
| Irish | slab | Mud. |
- He is a complete slob.Insult.
- Slab means mud in Irish.Etymology.
- The Wexford Slobs.Place.
The sl- cluster
- Slime, sludge, slush, slop — unpleasantly soft
- Slobber, slaver, slurp — messy with liquid
- Sloppy, slovenly, slapdash — careless
- Slink, slither, sly — a second cluster, about furtiveness
- These patterns are called phonesthemes
Irish *slab*, mud, recorded in English from the early 1800s.
What did slob originally mean?
Soft mud. Irish slab meant mud, and the Wexford Slobs are still named tidal mudflats.
Why do so many sl- words mean something messy?
It is a phonestheme, a sound cluster speakers associate with a meaning without it being a true root.