Slitch

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A long, narrow opening or cut made by slicing through something, used in regional English and Scots
2. A thin split or incision in a surface, particularly one made by a blade in cloth, leather or skin
3. The narrow gash or opening left when something has been slit lengthwise in a dialect usage

Etymology: The noun "slitch" has two unrelated histories, and the one most readers will meet is the newer. Robert Heinlein, the American science fiction writer, blended "slut" and "bitch" to coin it for his 1982 novel "Friday," where it serves as a derogatory term for a woman. It is a deliberate invention rather than a word that grew up gradually. The older strand is a different word entirely. It came into Middle English as "slicche," from Old English "sliċ," meaning mud, slime or wet earth. Its roots lie in a Proto-Germanic form tied to the idea of slipperiness, and it has siblings in Dutch "slijk" and German "Schlick," both meaning mire or silt. Its doublet is "sleech," a variant form of the same ancestor, which is why the two words look and sound alike while meaning the same muddy thing.