slicked
Meaning
made (hair) smooth, flat, and glossy by applying water, oil, or gel.
made something smooth, slippery, or glossy.
Structure
Usage
his hair was slicked back with pomade.
the rain had slicked the roads, making driving hazardous.
she slicked a layer of varnish onto the wooden table.
Etymology
The word 'slicked' is the past tense and past participle form of the verb 'slick'. Its core root, 'slick', traces back to Old English slician, meaning 'to make smooth or sleek'. This Old English term is related to a family of Germanic words conveying slipperiness and smoothness, such as Old Norse slíkr 'sleek' and Middle Low German slīk 'smooth'. The addition of the '-ed' suffix, a standard grammatical marker in English for indicating past action or state, transforms the base into a form describing the completed action of making something smooth, glossy, or sleek, as in hair that has been groomed flat.
Analysis
slick (from middle english slike, of old english origin, related to slician 'to make smooth'; an adjective/verb root). ed (from old english -ode, -ade, -ed, a suffix forming the past tense and past participle of weak verbs).