slim [M17th] Slim may now be something we aspire to be, but it comes from a Low German or Dutch base meaning ‘slanting, cross, bad’. The pejorative sense found in Dutch and German existed originally in the earlier English noun slim [M16th] ‘lazy or worthless person’ and South African usage still reflects the meaning ‘crafty, sly’. While it came into English in the sense ‘gracefully thin’, it has reflected the sense ‘poor, slight’ as in slim chance [L17th].