lazy

lazy
\ \ [16] Lazy is one of the problem words of English. It suddenly appears in the middle of the 16th century, and gradually replaces the native terms slack, slothful, and idle as the main word for expressing the concept ‘averse to work’, but no one knows for sure where it came from. Early spellings such as laysy led 19th-century etymologists to speculate that it may have been derived from lay, but the more generally accepted theory nowadays is that it was borrowed from Low German. Middle Low German had the similar lasichlazy, loose’, which may go back to an Indo-European form denoting ‘slack’.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Lazy — La zy, a. [Compar. {Lazier}; superl. {Laziest}.] [OE. lasie, laesic, of uncertain origin; cf. F. las tired, L. lassus, akin to E. late; or cf. LG. losig, lesig.] 1. Disinclined to action or exertion; averse to labor; idle; shirking work. Bacon.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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  • lazy — (adj.) 1540s, laysy, of unknown origin. Replaced native slack, slothful, and idle as the main word expressing the notion of averse to work. In 19c. thought to be from LAY (Cf. lay) (v.) as tipsy from tip. Skeat is responsible for the prevailing… …   Etymology dictionary

  • lazy — [lā′zē] adj. lazier, laziest [Early ModE, prob. < MLowG or MDu, as in MLowG lasich, slack, loose < IE les , slack, tired, akin to base * lēi : see LATE] 1. not eager or willing to work or exert oneself; indolent; slothful 2. slow and heavy; …   English World dictionary

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