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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

lazy.

Unwilling to do work or make an effort; disinclined to exertion.

4 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈleɪ̯zi(ː)/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈleɪ̯zɪi̯]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlæɪziː/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlæ̝ɪ̯zɪi̯]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Unwilling to do work or make an effort; disinclined to exertion.

    Get out of bed, you lazy lout!
  2. Causing or characterised by idleness; relaxed or leisurely.

    I love staying inside and reading on a lazy Sunday.
  3. Showing a lack of effort or care.

    lazy writing
  4. Sluggish; slow-moving.

    We strolled along beside a lazy stream.
  5. Lax: Droopy.

    a lazy-eared rabbit
  6. Lax: Of an eye, squinting because of a weakness of the eye muscles.

  7. Turned so that (the letter) is horizontal instead of vertical.

  8. Employing lazy evaluation; not calculating results until they are immediately required.

    a lazy algorithm
  9. Wicked; vicious.

    UK · dialectal · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Attested since 1540, origin uncertain. Probably from Low German and Middle Low German lasich (“slack, feeble, lazy”), from las, from Old Saxon lask, from Proto-Germanic *lasiwaz, *laskaz (“feeble, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“weak”). Akin to Dutch leuzig (“lazy”), German lässig (“casual, nonchalant, laid-back, easy-going”), Old Norse lasinn (“limpy, tired, weak”), Old English lesu, lysu (“false, evil, base”). More at lush. An alternative etymology traces lazy to Early Modern English laysy, a derivative of lay (plural lays + -y) in the same way that tipsy is derived from tip. See lay.

verb/ˈleɪ̯zi(ː)/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈleɪ̯zɪi̯]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlæɪziː/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlæ̝ɪ̯zɪi̯]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To laze, act in a lazy manner.

    informal
Where this word comes from

Attested since 1540, origin uncertain. Probably from Low German and Middle Low German lasich (“slack, feeble, lazy”), from las, from Old Saxon lask, from Proto-Germanic *lasiwaz, *laskaz (“feeble, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“weak”). Akin to Dutch leuzig (“lazy”), German lässig (“casual, nonchalant, laid-back, easy-going”), Old Norse lasinn (“limpy, tired, weak”), Old English lesu, lysu (“false, evil, base”). More at lush. An alternative etymology traces lazy to Early Modern English laysy, a derivative of lay (plural lays + -y) in the same way that tipsy is derived from tip. See lay.

noun/ˈleɪ̯zi(ː)/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈleɪ̯zɪi̯]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlæɪziː/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlæ̝ɪ̯zɪi̯]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A lazy person.

  2. Sloth (animal).

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Attested since 1540, origin uncertain. Probably from Low German and Middle Low German lasich (“slack, feeble, lazy”), from las, from Old Saxon lask, from Proto-Germanic *lasiwaz, *laskaz (“feeble, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“weak”). Akin to Dutch leuzig (“lazy”), German lässig (“casual, nonchalant, laid-back, easy-going”), Old Norse lasinn (“limpy, tired, weak”), Old English lesu, lysu (“false, evil, base”). More at lush. An alternative etymology traces lazy to Early Modern English laysy, a derivative of lay (plural lays + -y) in the same way that tipsy is derived from tip. See lay.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.