"S" Word Origins

swarthy

Old English

From an older English word "swarty," itself from "swart" meaning black, going back to Old English sweart ("black").

swash

Origin

Scandinavian. Compare Swedish dialect svasska, Norwegian svakka, English dialect swack (“a blow”).

swashbuckler

Origin

From swash + buckler.

swastika

Sanskrit · 1871

Borrowed from Sanskrit svastika, built from su- ("good") and asti ("is"), together meaning roughly "a good-luck charm." The word entered English in 1871. From the 1930s it became strongly tied to the symbol used by the Nazi party (also called the Hakenkreuz, or "hooked cross").

swat

Origin

A variant spelling of "squat," originally describing a quick striking motion.

swathe

Origin

From Middle English swathen, from Old English *swaþian, akin to Old English besweþian (“to swathe, swaddle”).

swatting

Origin

Built from "swat" (as in the SWAT police unit) plus the "-ing" ending.

sway

Middle English

From an older English word meaning "to bend or bow," tracing back through Middle English to a Germanic root related to swinging and swaying motion.

Swayze

Origin · 1990

A playful slang coinage referencing actor Patrick Swayze, who played a ghost in the 1990 film Ghost — "gone to the other side."

sweal

Origin

From Middle English swelen, from Old English swelan (“to burn, be burnt up, inflame”) (compare Old English swǣlan (“to burn”)), from Proto-West Germanic *swelan, from Proto-Germanic *swelaną (“to smoulder, burn slowly, create a burningly cold sensation”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”). Cognate with Dutch zwelen (“to smoulder”), Low German swelen (“to smoulder”), German schwelen (“to smoulder”), Icelandic svala (“to cool”). Related to swelter.

swear

Old English

From Old English swerian, meaning "to take an oath," from a Proto-Germanic root related to speaking or declaring. The meaning shifted in Middle English to also cover cursing, partly because using strong language was seen as similar to swearing false or careless oaths.

swearing

Middle English

Formed from "swear" plus the "-ing" ending, from Middle English sweryng.

sweat

Old English

From Old English swāt ("sweat"), tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to sweat," shared with many related words across Germanic and other Indo-European languages.

sweater

Middle English

From Middle English swētere, built from "sweat" plus the "-er" ending — originally clothing worn to induce sweating during exercise.

sweating

Middle English

From "sweat" plus the "-ing" ending, from Middle English sweting.

sweatpants

Origin

A compound of "sweat" and "pants."

sweatshirt

Origin

A compound of "sweat" and "shirt."

sweatshop

Origin

From "sweat" (in the sense of extracting labor from someone unfairly) plus "shop."

sweaty

Middle English

From Middle English swety, built from "sweat" plus "-y."

swede

Swedish · 1700

Short for "Swedish turnip," so named because Swedish growers introduced the vegetable to England in the 1700s.

Sweden

Dutch

Borrowed through Middle Dutch, originally referring to the Swedish people before it came to name the country itself, eventually replacing older native English names for the region.

Swedish

Origin

From "Swede" plus the "-ish" ending.

Sweeney

Irish

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Suibhne. Compare McSweeney.

sweep

Middle English

From Middle English swepen, tracing back through Old Germanic roots related to a swinging or striking motion — the same family as "swoop."

sweeper

Middle English

From "sweep" plus the "-er" ending, from Middle English swepere.

sweeping

Origin

Formed from "sweep" plus the "-ing" ending.

sweepstake

Origin

From sweep + stake.

sweer

Origin

From Middle English swere, sware, from Old English swǣr, swār (“heavy, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, great, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-West Germanic *swār, from Proto-Germanic *swēraz, *swērijaz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).

sweet

Latin

From Old English swēte, going back through Proto-Germanic to a very old Indo-European root for "sweet," shared with words in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit.

sweetbread

Origin

Apparently from sweet + bread, though the reason is not immediately evident. Possibly connected with Dutch zwezerik, whose etymology is also unclear.

sweetbrier

Origin

From sweet + brier.

sweeten

Origin

From "sweet" plus the "-en" verb-forming ending.

sweetened

Origin

Past participle of "sweeten," formed by adding "-ed."

sweetener

Origin

From "sweeten" plus the "-er" ending.

sweetheart

Middle English

From Middle English swete heorte, literally "sweet heart" — a term of endearment.

sweetie

Origin

From "sweet" plus the diminutive ending "-ie."

sweetleaf

Origin

From sweet + leaf.

sweetly

Old English

From Old English swētlīċe, formed from "sweet" plus the adverbial ending "-ly."

sweetness

Old English

From Old English swētnes, built from "sweet" plus the "-ness" ending.

sweetsome

Origin

From sweet + -some.

sweetums

Origin

From "sweet" plus the informal suffix "-ums."

Sweetwater

Origin

From "sweet" plus "water," typically referring to a place near fresh (non-salty) water.

swell

Old English

From Old English swellan, "to swell" — an ancient Germanic word with cousins in Dutch, German, and Swedish all meaning the same thing.

swellfish

Origin

From swell + fish.

swellhead

Origin

From swell + head.

sweltering

Origin

Formed from swelter ("to suffer from oppressive heat") plus the -ing ending.

swerve

Old English

From Old English sweorfan, meaning "to rub, file, or turn aside" — related to old Germanic words for wiping and turning.

swift

Old English

From Old English swift, "quick" — related to swivel, both tracing back to a root meaning "to twist or wind."