Slit

How to spell slit

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce slit

What does slit mean?

1. nounA long, narrow cut or opening.
2. verbTo make a long, narrow cut in something.

Slit in a sentence

• noun

  She posted the letter through the slit in the door.

• verb

  Use a sharp knife to slit the envelope open.

• noun

  A thin slit in the curtains let a beam of light into the room.

• verb

  He had to slit the packaging tape before lifting the lid.

Where does slit come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is an old native English word, descended from the Old English verb 'slitan', which meant to tear, split, or rend something apart. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close cousins such as the Dutch 'slijten' and the German 'schleissen', all carrying the basic idea of splitting or wearing through. Over the centuries the word narrowed in meaning from a broad sense of tearing to the more precise modern notion of a long, straight cut or a narrow opening. The noun, describing the resulting gap, grew out of the same root. Because it is short and built from a familiar consonant cluster, the spelling has stayed simple and stable, with no silent letters or borrowed quirks to trip up a writer.

How the word is built

• slit (whole word, from Old English slitan: to tear or split); no prefix or suffix, the verb and noun share one form