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PlainSpell

slow

/sloʊ/adjective, verb, noun, adverb

slow is spelled S-L-O-W: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, slow means “Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in slow?

Letters4: S-L-O-W
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing71 times per million words; the 1,486th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is slow?

Slow appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce slow?

  • UK /sləʊ/
  • /slaː/
  • US /sloʊ/

Slow has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-slow.ogg, En-us-slow.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with slow

Sounds like: sloe (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with slow?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as slow from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of slow

  • slower comparative
  • slowest superlative
  • slows present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • slowing participle, present
  • slowed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does slow mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.

    a slow train; a slow computer

  2. 2

    Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.

  3. 3

    derogatoryinformalOf reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.

  4. 4

    Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution.

  5. 5

    Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time.

    That clock is slow.

  6. 6

    Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.

  7. 7

    Not busy; lacking activity.

    It was a slow news day, so the editor asked us to make our articles wordier.

verb

  1. 1

    To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.

    slow the process

  2. 2

    To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.

    slow the traffic

  3. 3

    To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.

noun

  1. 1

    Someone who is slow; a sluggard.

  2. 2

    A slow song.

adverb

  1. 1

    Slowly.

    That clock is running slow.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Slow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlent, lente (not quick in motion), tardif (lacking in promptness; acting with deliberation), tranquille (not busy), ralentir, freiner (to reduce the speed of)
Germanlangsam, träge (not quick in motion), dumm, zurückgeblieben (of reduced intellectual capacity)
Portugueselento, devagar, lerdo (not quick in motion), fazer lento, decelerar (to reduce the speed of), atrasado (behind in time)
Spanishlento, lerdo (not quick in motion), frenar, lentificar (to reduce the speed of), tardo, zote (of reduced intellectual capacity)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does slow come from?

From Middle English slaw, slow, from Old English slāw (“lazy; inert, slow”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiw, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz (“blunt; dull; exhausted, faint, sluggish, weak, weary; listless, torpid; dim-witted, slow; lazy, slack”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH-u- (“bad”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after slow