- sloth (n.)
- late 12c., "indolence, sluggishness," formed from Middle English slou, slowe (see slow); replacing Old English slæwð. Sense of "slowness, tardiness" is from mid-14c. As one of the deadly sins, it translates Latin accidia. The slow-moving mammal first so called 1610s, a translation of Portuguese preguiça, from Latin pigritia "laziness" (cf. Spanish perezosa "slothful," also "the sloth").