sloyd

English

Alternative forms

• slojd, slöjd

Etymology

Borrowed from Swedish slöjd (“handicraft, handiwork, skills”). Doublet of sleight.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slɔɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

sloyd (countable and uncountable, plural sloyds)

1. A Scandinavian system of handicraft-based education that emphasizes the importance of practical, hands-on work to develop cognitive and problem-solving skills. In particular, it is often associated with woodworking and carving, but can include other crafts as well.
   • 1947, Unesco, International Bureau of Education, Proceedings and Recommendations‎^[1], Digitized edition, published 2009:

     He asked what exactly was the position given to the "sloyds" (handicrafts) in teaching …

2. A knife for carving.
   • 1910, William Noyes, Handwork in Wood‎^[2], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2007:

     The sloyd knife, Fig. 84, is a tool likely to be misused in the hands of small children, but when sharp and in strong hands, has many valuable uses.

   • 1933 June, W. Clyde Lammey, “Tricks of Sharpening Knives”, in Popular Mechanics‎^[3], volume 59, number 6, page 951:

     … woodcarvers' knives or sloyds, chisels and plane irons, …

References

• “sloyd”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Loyds