schlep

American  

[shlep] / ʃlɛp /

Also schlepp sometimes shlep,

verb (used with object)

Slang.

schlepped, schlepping

1. to carry; lug.

   to schlep an umbrella on a sunny day.

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verb (used without object)

Slang.

schlepped, schlepping

1. to move slowly, awkwardly, or tediously.

   We schlepped from store to store all day.

noun

Slang.

1. Also schlepper. someone or something that is tedious, slow, or awkward.

schlep British  

/ ʃlɛp /

verb

1. to drag or lug (oneself or an object) with difficulty

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noun

1. a stupid or clumsy person

2. an arduous journey or procedure

Etymology

Origin of schlep

First recorded in 1910–15; from Yiddish shlepn “to pull, drag, (intransitive) trudge,” from German schleppen, “to draw, tug, haul”; akin to slip ¹, slippery

Explanation

When you schlep something, you lug or carry it with difficulty. If your taxi can't make it up an icy hill, you might have to schlep your groceries all the way up to your house. If you schlep something, it's either awkward or heavy — or both. You have to pull or drag or tug things when you schlep them. You can also describe an awkward, long, or rough trip as a schlep: "It's such a schlep to get down Grandma's road during mud season." The word has a Yiddish root, shlepen, "to drag," from the Germanic sleifen, also "to drag."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

schlep schlepped schlepping

You can’t beat the price: $9 one way from Framingham and no bags to schlep except carry-ons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

She still laughs about it now, whispering to my dad back then, half-horrified, half-amused: “BYOM? They want us to schlep raw meat to their house. Is that… something people do?”

From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2026

Yiddish, the language spoken by Ashkenazi Jews across Europe before the Holocaust, is now perhaps best known to many English speakers through words such as "schlep", "klutz" and "chutzpah".

From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2025

The Zamels wake before dawn for the two-hour schlep to the Westside to keep them in school with their friends.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2025

“Anyway, I’m guessing you didn’t schlep all the way out here just to listen to me talk business. What are you doing here?”

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

I schlepped in oversized bags of flour and sugar to make cranberry-orange and pumpkin-chocolate loaves for Christmas—leaving a fine dusting of powder in the pantry.

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026

Lader, 40, described "grabbing babies who were being schlepped across the street, and finding parents who were hysterical that their kids weren't here."

From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026

He and his wife have schlepped materials home by train, “five big valises recently from Prague.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

Since Red Stitch uses only purchased grapes, they must be schlepped to Herrera’s winemaking facilities as part of a heavily orchestrated process.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2025

Then he was schlepped out to the hospital on an emergency helicopter ride because he was close to death … but at the hospital, there he was, sitting at a desk again, doing president stuff.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2022

It was inconvenient, half-furnished and somehow still felt oddly cinematic, the way schlepping your lives to a new city can feel cinematic, but only with the right person.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

But opportunities like last week’s flogging of the new Porsche 911 Turbo S on Circuito Ascari are rare and require considerable schlepping.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025

Once you understand that “Conclave” is “Mean Girls,” schlepping to a theater becomes much more appealing.

From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2024

But schlepping heavy suitcases and trunks around the Bel-Air’s 12-acre grounds isn’t what earned Marquez a national hotel-rating service’s only individual five-star ranking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2024

The days of endlessly schlepping back and forth to church were no longer my problem, and I was lazily sleeping in.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah