Sleeve

How to spell sleeve

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce sleeve

What does sleeve mean?

1. nounThe part of a garment that covers all or part of the arm.
2. nounA tube or casing that slips over something to hold or protect it.

Sleeve in a sentence

• She rolled up one sleeve before washing the dishes.

• He slid the record back into its paper sleeve.

• A thread had come loose at the cuff of his left sleeve.

• The hot coffee cup came with a cardboard sleeve to protect her hand.

Where does sleeve come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, descending from the Old English slefe or sliefe, which named the part of a garment that covers the arm. Scholars connect it to a Germanic root meaning 'to slip', the same notion seen in the everyday action of slipping an arm into a coat or slipping a record into its cover. Related forms survive in Dutch, where sloof once meant a covering or apron, which shows how broadly the idea of an enveloping wrap was applied. Over the centuries the spelling settled with the long 'ee' written as 'ee' followed by a silent 'v' and 'e', which is the usual modern trap, since the word sounds like a single smooth syllable. By extension English speakers came to use sleeve for any tube or cover that slips over something, such as a record sleeve or a protective casing on a tool.

How the word is built

• sleeve (from Old English sliefe/slefe: arm covering); a single root word with no prefix or suffix