lither

Meaning

1. Lazy, slothful; listless.
2. Flexible, supple; also, agile, lithe.
3. (obsolete) Bad, evil; false.
4. (obsolete) In poor physical condition.

Synonyms

inactive

indolent

lazy

procrastinate

slothful

work-shy

accidious

desidious

Hyphenated as

lith‧er

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlɪðə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: lither

Inherited from Old English: lȳþre

Cognate with Dutch: lodder

Cognate with German: liederlich

Cognate with German: lotterig

Cognate with Old English: loþrung

In summary

From Middle English lither, lyther (“deceitful; evil; false; treacherous; sinful, wicked; leading to cruelty, injustice, or wickedness, perverted; of a country: filled with wicked people; cruel, fierce; dangerous, deadly; frightening; grievous, painful; harmful, injurious; miserable, paltry, poor, worthless; feeble, sluggish; cowardly”) [and other forms], from Old English lȳþre (“bad, wicked; base, mean, wretched; corrupt”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *lūþrijaz (“bad; dissolute; neglected; useless”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“limp, slack”).
Sense 1.2 (“flexible, supple; agile, lithe”) is influenced by lithe.
cognates
* Dutch lodder (“wanton person”), loddering (“drowsy; trifling; wanton”)
* German liederlich (“dissolute”), German lotterig (“slovenly”), lüderlich (“slovenly”)
* Old English loþrung (“delusion, rubbish, nonsense”), loddere (“beggar”)