The word glib, which describes insincere or shallow language, has an interesting origin. It was first recorded in 1594, initially meaning “slippery” or physically inconsistent. Over time, it evolved to represent speech with those qualities. The term is a shortened form of the now obsolete word glibbery, which had a similar meaning. Glibbery itself traces back to the Low German word glibberig, meaning “slippery”. Ultimately, all these variations stem from the Proto-Indo-European root gelh, which could denote “flourish”, “green”, or “yellow” and is the source of words like chlorine, cholera, gold, and yellow. According to Google NGrams, the popularity of the term glib peaked when it was first introduced and has since stabilized, currently accounting for approximately 0.00004% of all English words.
