schlass

French

Alternative forms

• chlass, chlasse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃlas/ ~ /ʃlɑs/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Alemannic German schlass (“soft”, especially of melting snow; also “languid, weak”). Futher origin unknown. Perhaps distantly related with English sleep and slack. The word is attested in Switzerland and may have been borrowed there. Whether it is also native in Alsace seems unclear; it is at any rate not in the Wörterbuch der elsässischen Mundarten.

Adjective

schlass (feminine schlasse or schlass, masculine plural schlass, feminine plural schlasses or schlass)

1. (colloquial) very drunk

   Synonyms: ivre, saoul, imbibé, aviné

   • Georges Simenon, Maigret at Picratt's:

     C'est ce que j'ai cru comprendre. J'étais déjà schlass à ce moment-là.

     That's what I thought I understood. I was drunk by then.

2. (colloquial) exhausted, very tired

   Synonyms: crevé, fourbu, épuisé, claqué

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English slash.

Noun

schlass m (invariable)

1. (slang) knife

   Synonym: couteau

Further reading

• “schlass”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.