sloom

Meaning

sluggish, slow, lifeless

Concepts

slow

thick

dim-witted

pokey

slow-witted

dim-bulb

Synonyms

langzaam

traag

slome

traag van begrip

langzame

dom

dralend

zwak

suf

lijzig

loom

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sloːm/

Etymology

Uncertain; first attested in the late nineteenth century. Ostensibly a variant of loom (“(pleasantly) lazy”), perhaps influenced by words pertaining to slowness and sluggishness with initial sl- such as slungel, slenteren, slak and sloffen.
Note however the fixed expression slome duikelaar, which contains some of the earliest attestations of this word and derives from the pseudonym Sjloume Duikelaar, a late eighteenth-century author from Amsterdam writing in Yiddish. It is uncertain if the adaptation of the name Sjloume to slome is influenced by the prior existence of this word, or if this word in fact derives from the pseudonym.