slithy means lithe and slimy or slithery. It carries an Arena rating of 1800, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, slithy ranks #644 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #853 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #1,224 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,151 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say.
slithy is pronounced /ˈslaɪði/.
Why “slithy” is a great word
Describing a creature or substance that combines a lithe, sinuous flexibility with a slick, viscous moistness, 'slithy' is a blend of 'slimy' and 'lithe', coined in 1871 by Lewis Carroll. Unlike 'lithe', which suggests graceful flexibility but lacks a slick, moist surface, or 'slimy', which emphasizes a viscous wetness but does not imply sinuous movement, 'slithy' perfectly marries motion to texture. It is the feel of a salamander's swift, coiling escape through your fingers, the impossible contortions of a thick oil spill spreading across water, or the imagined touch of something that moves with deliberate, boneless grace through perpetual damp—a word for life that is unnervingly fluid.
Etymology
Blend of lithe + slimy, coined by Lewis Carroll in 1871.
adj
- lithe and slimy or slithery.e.g.“The squid wrapped its slithy tentacles around its prey.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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