sluggard

From Middle English slogarde, probably ultimately of Old Norse origin. Equivalent to slug +‎ -ard (“pejorative agent suffix”).

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sluggard (plural sluggards)

1. A person who is lazy, stupid, or idle by habit.
2. A person slow to begin necessary work, a slothful person.
   • 1981, Salman Rushdie, chapter 1, in Midnight's Children:

     But while these sluggards slept on, on dry land, snoring peacefully beside their owners, the oldest boat was up at the crack as old folk often are, and was therefore the first craft to move across the unfrozen lake.

3. A fearful or cowardly person, a poltroon.

• See also Thesaurus:idler

• lug
• slug
• sluggish