A very offensive word used about a woman, saying she has sex with many different men — or that she looks like she does. Please do not use it. I am explaining it only so you understand what you are hearing.

Two things are worth knowing. First, it is almost always aimed at women, and there is no real male version that carries the same sting. A man doing the same thing gets called something admiring, or nothing at all. That double standard is the whole reason the word does the damage it does — it is not a description, it is a punishment.

Second, people often use it about clothes, not behaviour: a short dress, a low top. "That's a bit slutty" is a judgement about how a woman looks, made by someone who has decided what her clothes say about her. Again, offensive.

You will hear it in three places. From people insulting someone, which is cruel. In a joking way between close friends — some young women use it about themselves or each other, and that is their word to reclaim, not yours to borrow. And in film and TV, where it shows a character is being nasty. Even in the joking use, it can turn and cut. As a learner, and especially as a man, there is no situation where saying this word helps you. Understand it; never use it.