# slaught

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. Killing; slaughter.

## Etymology
From Middle English slaught, slagt, slaȝt, from Old English sliht, sleaht, sleht, slieht (“a stroke, a striking, a flash of lightning, slaughter, murder, death by violence, the deadly stroke of disease, battle, what is to be killed, animals for slaughter”), from Proto-Germanic *slahtō, *slahtiz (“beating, hitting, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *slek- (“to beat, pound”).
Cognate with Dutch slacht (“slaughter”), German Schlacht (“killing, battle”), Swedish slakt (“slaughter”), Icelandic slátta (“slaughter”). Related to English slay.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/slaught