schwul

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See also: schwül

Dutch

Etymology

From German schwul.

Adjective

schwul (not comparable)

  1. (Limburg) homosexual

Inflection

Inflection of schwul
uninflected schwul
inflected schwule
comparative
positive
predicative/adverbial schwul
indefinite m./f. sing. schwule
n. sing. schwul
plural schwule
definite schwule
partitive schwuls

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German swōl, swūl (sultry, hot and humid) (17th century), adopted into Standard German as schwül in the 18th century, ultimately from the root of schwelen (to smoulder).

The older form without umlaut appears in Berlin dialect in the 19th century in the current sense, building on the slang term warm (as in warmer Bruder) for ‘homosexual’. The earliest attestation of this sense dates to 1847 (Paul Derks).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʃvuːl/
  • (file)

Adjective

schwul (strong nominative masculine singular schwuler, comparative schwuler, superlative am schwulsten)

  1. (colloquial) homosexual, gay (of males)
    Synonyms: gay, homosexuell, homo, (dated) warm
  2. (derogatory, slang) having effeminate or flamboyant qualities; fruity, queer, swishy
    • 2016 December 30, Moritz von Uslar, “Party braucht keinen König”, in Die Zeit:
      Haupts Definition seiner Geschlechtsidentität lautet: "Klar, man hat sich schwul zu verhalten." Auf eine noch kürzere Formel gebracht: Schwul sein, ohne Schwuchtel zu sein.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

  • schwul” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • schwul” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • schwul” in Duden online
  • schwul” in OpenThesaurus.de