slype means A covered passageway, especially one connecting the transept of a cathedral or monastery to the chapter house. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why this word is great
SLYPE — [Noun] A covered passageway connecting the transept of a cathedral or monastery to the chapter house. Its etymology slips from the sense of ‘slip’ as a narrow passage, kin to the Dutch *slijpe*, a secret path. Unlike a "cloister" (which encloses a courtyard in contemplative circuit) or an "ambulatory" (which processes around a sacred apse), the slype is a purely functional conduit, a stone artery for the logistical life of the church. It is the damp, echoing chill between solemnities; the route for the brisk prior with keys, or the novice bearing a forgotten text; the dim channel through which the mundane world of administration and gossip must, briefly, pass before reaching the chapter’s sanctum—a humble acknowledgment that even the most exalted spaces require a back door.
noun
- A covered passageway, especially one connecting the transept of a cathedral or monastery to the chapter house.“Then he ventures down the slypes which lead between pavilions into the cloister yards.”