A Slot Was the Hollow at the Base of the Throat
A slot is a narrow opening. Its French source named a part of the body.
A slot is a narrow opening for receiving something, and by extension a position in a schedule. Old French *esclot* meant the hollow at the base of the throat — the suprasternal notch — and English borrowed it for any narrow depression before it settled on machined openings. The scheduling sense, as in a time slot or a landing slot, is twentieth century and now dominates. *Slot machine* dates from the 1880s, named for the coin opening rather than anything inside.
- A narrow opening. *A coin slot.*
- A scheduled position. *A time slot.*
- To fit in. *Slotting it in.*
- Slot machine. *A slot machine.*
- Old French — *esclot*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | slot | A slot. |
| Plural | slots | Slots. |
| Verb | slot | Slotting. |
| Compound | slot machine | A slot machine. |
| Old French | esclot | A hollow. |
- Put the coin in the slot.Opening.
- A prime-time slot.Schedule.
- Esclot meant a throat hollow.Etymology.
Body parts that named objects
- Slot — the hollow at the throat
- Muscle — from Latin *musculus*, a little mouse
- Pupil — from *pupilla*, a little doll, your reflection in the eye
- Iris — the Greek goddess of the rainbow
- Atlas — the top vertebra, holding up the head
Old French *esclot*, the hollow at the base of the throat, of uncertain earlier origin.
What did slot originally mean?
The hollow at the base of the throat, before the word moved to any narrow depression and then to machined openings.
Why is it called a slot machine?
After the coin opening, recorded in the 1880s, not after any mechanism inside.