Sloth
Etymology
Formed in English from "slow" + "-th" (as "warmth" from "warm"). It was chosen to translate the Latin "acedia" and "pigritia" among the seven deadly sins, giving a plain English name to spiritual and physical torpor.
noun · /SLOHTH/
Habitual disinclination to work or exert oneself; laziness as a settled trait.
What it names
Names laziness dignified as one of the deadly sins — not mere rest but a refusal to do what one should.
Example
The project didn’t fail from bad luck so much as a slow, collective sloth about the hard parts.
Related idea
Indolence is a love of ease and comfort; sloth carries a moral charge — the neglect of what one ought to do. One is a preference; the other is a failing.
noun · /SLOHTH/
A slow-moving mammal of Central and South American forests that hangs from branches.
What it names
a tree-dwelling tropical mammal
Example
The sloth crept along the branch, barely moving for hours.
Related idea
Named for the very slowness the deadly sin describes.