What does slurpy mean?
Slurpy is an informal adjective for something unusually wet or liquid, especially food or drink that tends to dribble, splash, or spill as it is eaten. It can also describe a wet, sucking sound, as in a “slurpy” laugh or the noise of someone stirring thin soup. The word is used in everyday British and American English and commonly carries a mildly comic or mildly critical tone: calling a meal slurpy implies that it is messy to handle, while calling a sound slurpy focuses attention on its liquid, sucking quality. Slurpy is therefore more evocative than a plain description such as wet and usually less severe than saying that something is a complete mess. Its usefulness lies in this combination of physical description and sound imagery. The term can also carry an affectionate, playful quality when used about a child, a messy eater, or an exaggerated comic sound. In formal writing, a more neutral term such as wet, moist, soupy, or messy may be preferable.
adjectiveContaining too much liquid, so as to be wet, messy, or likely to spill; also, making a wet or sucking sound.
- Wet or excessively liquid and therefore messy or likely to spill.
- Producing or characterized by a wet, sucking sound.
"The warm, slurpy soup was difficult to eat without dribbling it down my chin."
"The soup was so hot and slurpy that I dribbled it down my chin."
"He let out a slurpy laugh as the sauce slipped from his spoon."
One suffix can turn an eating sound into a warning label: slurpy often means dinner is so wet that it may end up all over the eater.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does slurpy come from?
Slurpy is an English adjective formed from the older liquid-noise word slur and the adjectival suffix -y. The related verb slurp belongs to the same echoic family of English words for taking in or moving liquid noisily. Slurpy came to describe moist, spill-prone food and drink and was also extended to wet or sucking sounds.
Related word forms
How slurpy is actually used
Informal and often mildly comic or critical. It is particularly common for food and drink, while the sound-based sense is especially idiomatic.
Easily confused with slurpy
Slurpy describes something excessively wet or liable to spill, whereas slimy describes something covered in a slippery or viscous coating.