Slither or sliver?
slither is a verb meaning “To move about smoothly and from side to side”; sliver is a noun meaning “A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment”. Use slither as a verb and sliver as a noun (sliver is also a verb: “To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sliver is about 2.9 times as common as slither.
What is the difference between slither and sliver?
| slither | sliver | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, adjective, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | To move about smoothly and from side to side To slide A limestone rubble | A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment CanadaSpecifically, a splinter caught under the skin To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit |
| Example | none recorded | to sliver wood |
| Forms | slithers, slithering, slithered | slivers |
| Pronunciation | /ˈslɪðə/ /ˈsləðə/ /ˈslɪvə/ | /ˈslɪvə/ /ˈslɪvɚ/ /ˈsləvə/ |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: slither and sliver in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of slither and sliver
slither
- 1
To move about smoothly and from side to side
- 2
A limestone rubble
- 3
To slide
- 4
A group of snakes
sliver
- 1
A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment
- 2
To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit
to sliver wood
- 3
CanadaSpecifically, a splinter caught under the skin
- 4
A strand, or slender roll, of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which precedes spinning
- 5
Bait made of pieces of small fish
- 6
USA narrow high-rise apartment building
- 7
A small amount of something; a drop in the bucket; a shred
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, slither or sliver?
slither appears about once in every 3 million words; sliver about once in every 1 million words.
slither about once in every 3 million wordssliver about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).