"S" Word Origins

susurration

Origin

From Latin susurratio.

susurrus

Origin

Borrowed from Latin susurrus (“a humming, whispering”); reduplication of imitative Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”).

Sutherland

Old Norse

The name of the county is from Old Norse Suðrland, from suðr (“south”) + land (“land”), named from the point of view of Orkney and Shetland. In some cases, the surname may represent the equivalent formation in Old English.

sutra

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit sutra, meaning "thread" or "string" — the same root gives us "suture" and "sew."

Sutter

Origin

Variant of Suter.

Sutton

Old English

From Old English suth ("south") + tun ("town, enclosure") — literally "south town."

suture

Latin

From Latin sutura, "a seam," from suere, "to sew."

suya

Origin

Borrowed from Hausa suya.

Suzanne

French

The French form of Susanna, from Hebrew Shoshana, meaning "lily."

Suzette

French

From French Suzette, a diminutive of Suzanne with the affectionate ending "-ette."

Suzhou

Origin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 蘇州 (Sūzhōu).

Suzie

Origin

Diminutives + -ie.

Suzuki

Japanese

From the Japanese surname Suzuki, also the name behind the automaker founded by Michio Suzuki.

svelte

Origin

Borrowed from French svelte, from Italian svelto (“stretched out”), past participle of svellere (“to pluck out, root out”), from Vulgar Latin *exvellere, from ex + vellere (“to pluck, stretch”).

Sven

Swedish

Borrowed from Swedish Sven.

svengali

Origin · 1894

From Svengali, the hypnotist character who controls a young singer in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby.

Svensson

Swedish

Borrowed from Swedish Svensson, literally "son of Sven."

Sveta

Russian

From Russian Sveta, an informal pet form of Svetlana.

Svetlana

Russian · 1802

From Russian Svetlana, related to svet ("light"). Coined around 1802 by the poet Alexander Vostokov and later adopted widely.

SVG

English

An initialism of Scalable Vector Graphics.

SVR

Russian

Initialism of Russian Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, "Foreign Intelligence Service."

swab

Dutch

From Middle Dutch zwabber ("mop"), originally referring to a sailor whose job was mopping the deck.

swack

Origin

Unknown. Speculatively, may be an extension of the sharp blow sense. Compare whack in the sense of "large portion of something".

swag

Old Norse

Probably from Old Norse sveggja, "to swing or sway."

swagbellied

Origin

See swagbelly.

swagbelly

Origin

From swag (“to droop; to sag”) + belly.

swagger

Origin

A frequentative form of "swag" ("to sway"), first recorded in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

swagman

Origin

From swag (“items stolen by a thief; unlawfully obtained goods; (Australia, New Zealand) bundle of personal items carried by a tramp, traveller, etc.”) + man.

Swahili

Arabic

From Arabic sawahil, "coasts," describing the peoples of the East African coastline.

swain

Old Norse

From Old Norse sveinn, "young man, servant" — related to Swedish sven.

swale

Origin

Possibly from Middle English swale (“a shady place, a shadow”), perhaps of North Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse svalr (“cool, fresh”), Icelandic svalir (“a balcony running along a wall”).

swallow

Old English

From Old English swelgan, "to swallow, devour."

swallowing

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English swolwynge; by surface analysis, swallow + -ing.

swami

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Hindi svami, from Sanskrit svamin, "lord, master."

swamp

Old English

Probably a blend of Old English swamm ("fungus, sponge") and Middle English sompe ("marsh"), first widely recorded in colonial North America.

swampy

Origin

From swamp + the adjective suffix "-y."

Swamy

Hindi

Borrowed from Hindi svami.

swan

Old English

From Old English swan, from Proto-Germanic *swanaz, literally "the singing bird."

swank

Proto-Germanic

From dialectal English swank, "to strut, show off," related to Proto-Germanic roots for swaying or bending.

swanky

Origin

From swank + "-y."

swanling

Origin

From swan + -ling, formed by analogy with duckling, gosling, etc. Compare German Schwänlein.

Swann

Origin

A variant spelling of Swan.

swap

Middle English

From Middle English swappen, originally meaning "to strike" — the idea being that people once struck hands together to seal a trade.

sward

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English swerd, sward (“rind, skin; leather strap; sod, turf”) [and other forms], from Old English sweard (“rind; skin”), from Proto-Germanic *swarduz (“rind; tough skin; turf”); further etymology unknown. The verb is derived from the noun.

swarf

Origin

From Middle English *swarf, *swerf, from Old English ġeswearf, ġesweorf (“iron filings; rust”) and/or Old Norse svarf (“metallic dust”), both from Proto-Germanic *swarbą (“that which is rubbed off; shavings”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to mop, wipe; to rub off”); see further at swerve. The word is cognate to Old English sweorfan (“to rub, scour; to file”).

swarm

Old English

From Old English swearm, "swarm, multitude," from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to buzz or hum."

swart

Origin

From Middle English swart, from Old English sweart, from Proto-West Germanic *swart, from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swerd-. Doublet of Schwarz.

swarten

Origin

From swart + -en (verbal suffix).