slime
n. uncountablen. a thick, wet, and slippery substance that is often unpleasant to touch. You might see it on a fish, a snail, or at the bottom of a dirty pond.
n. a moist, soft, and slippery substance, typically regarded as repulsive. Often refers to the protective mucus secreted by certain animals or the viscous coating found on decaying organic matter.
The snail left a trail of silver slime on the leaf.
After the flood, the basement walls were covered in a thin layer of green slime and mud.
The biologist carefully collected a sample of the bioluminescent slime from the cave floor, noting its unusual viscosity and pungent, earthy odor.
From Middle English slime, slyme, slim, slym, from Old English slīm, from Proto-West Germanic slīm, from Proto-Germanic slīmą, from Proto-Indo-European *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Sliem, Dutch slijm, German Schleim (“mucus, slime”), Danish slim, Faroese slím (“slime”), Latin limus (“mud”), Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Nounslime
- Adjectiveslimy
Last updated May 6, 2026