Laxity
/ˈlæk.sə.ti/noun
The quality of being lax; looseness, slackness, or lack of strictness.
Did you know?Its deepest ancestor is the Proto-Indo-European root *sleig-* / *sleiĝ-*, meaning “to be sticky, slippery, or slack,” which fed a whole lineage of words for looseness and lack of tension.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sleig-
“to be sticky, slippery, or slack”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*slakaz
“loose, slack”
Old English
OE
slæc
“slack, inactive, negligent”
Latin
Latin
laxus
“loose, wide, open, relaxed”
Old French
OF
lax
“loose, not strict”
Middle English
English
laxite
“looseness, lack of strictness”
Modern English
English
laxity
“the state of being lax”