Slotted

How to spell slotted

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce slotted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does slotted mean?

1. verbPlaced or fitted something neatly into a narrow opening or an available position.
2. adjectiveHaving one or more narrow grooves or openings cut into it.

Slotted in a sentence

• verb

  She slotted the memory card into the side of the laptop.

• adjective

  A slotted screwdriver fits the flat screws on the cabinet.

• verb

  The new recruit was slotted into the afternoon shift.

• adjective

  She lifted the fries out with a slotted spoon to drain the oil.

Where does slotted come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the past tense and participle of the verb 'slot', which grew out of the noun 'slot' meaning a narrow, elongated opening or groove. English took the noun in the 1300s from Old French 'esclot', a word that originally described the hollow depression running down the centre of the chest, between the breasts. From that anatomical hollow the sense broadened to any narrow channel or slit, and by the 1700s a slot was a slit cut into wood or metal to receive a bolt or a coin. The verb 'to slot', meaning to place something into such an opening or to fit a thing neatly into position, appeared later still, and like many short verbs ending in a single stressed vowel plus a single consonant, it doubles that final 't' before -ed; that doubling is the small spelling trap, since the base word looks as though one 't' might do.

How the word is built

• slot (a narrow groove or opening)
• -t- (doubled consonant)
• -ed (past tense/adjective suffix)