sluff
/slʌf/noun, verb
sluff is spelled S-L-U-F-F: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 95 million words in written English, the 313,259th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sluff means “Alternative spelling of slough (skin shed by a snake or other reptile)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sluff is sluffs.
How many letters and syllables are in sluff?
| Letters | 5: S-L-U-F-F |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 95 million words; the 313,259th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sluff?
Sluff appears about once in every 95 million words in written English, the 313,259th 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 sluff?
- /slʌf/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-slough2.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sluff
- sluffs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- slough
- sluffing participle, present
- sluffed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sluff mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative spelling of slough (skin shed by a snake or other reptile).
That is the sluff of a rattler; we must be careful.
- 2
Alternative spelling of slough (dead skin on a sore or ulcer).
This is the sluff that came off of his skin after the burn.
- 3
An avalanche, mudslide, or a like slumping of material or debris.
verb
- 1
Alternative spelling of slough (to shed or to slide off).
- 2
ignore, shrug (off)
- 3
Alternative spelling of slough (discard).
- 4
to avoid working
He's sluffing off somewhere.
- 5
To play truant from (school).
Sunshine for the Latter-Day Saint Mother's Soul Both calls told her the same thing – that her son had been sluffing school. She felt betrayed. She had trusted this child.
noun
- 1
USslangAcronym of Short Little Ugly Fat Fellow (or Fucker), US Airforce nickname for the A-7 bomber.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sluff come from?
From Middle English slough (“skin, husk, rind; cocoon; scales; cyst”), akin to Middle High German slûch (“slough”) (whence German Schlauch (“tube, hose”)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).