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English
A swan .
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English swan , from Old English swan , from Proto-West Germanic *swan , from Proto-Germanic *swanaz ( “ swan ” , literally “ the singing bird ” ) , from Proto-Indo-European *swonh₂- /*swenh₂- ( “ to sing, make sound ” ) .
Cognate with West Frisian swan , Low German Swaan , swan , Dutch zwaan , German Schwan , Danish svane , Norwegian svane , Swedish svan . Related also to Old English ġeswin ( “ melody, song ” ) , Old English swinsian ( “ to make melody ” ) .
Further cognates include (possibly) Russian звон ( zvon , “ ring, chime ” ) ; Latin sonus ( “ sound ” ) , Sanskrit स्वन् ( svan , “ sound ” ) .
Doublet of sound .
Noun
swan (plural swans or swan )
Any of various species of large, long-necked waterfowl , of genus Cygnus (bird family: Anatidae ), most of which have white plumage.
( figuratively ) One whose grace etc. suggests a swan.
( heraldry ) This bird used as a heraldic charge, sometimes with a crown around its neck (e. g. the arms of Buckinghamshire ).
Hyponyms
Holonyms
Derived terms
Translations
waterfowl of the genus Cygnus
Afrikaans: swaan
Ainu: レタッチㇼ ( retatcir )
Albanian: mjellmë (sq) f
Algonquin: wequash
Arabic: تَمّ m ( tamm ) , قُقْنُس m ( quqnus ) , إِوَزّ عِرَاقِيّ m ( ʔiwazz ʕirāqiyy )
Egyptian Arabic: وزة عراقي f ( weza ʕerāqi )
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܩܘܩܢܘܣ m ( qūqnōs )
Armenian: կարապ (hy) ( karap )
Old Armenian: կարապ ( karap ) , պոր ( por ) , փոր ( pʻor ) , կիկնոս ( kiknos )
Assamese: ৰাজহাঁহ ( razohãh )
Asturian: cisne (ast) m
Azerbaijani: qu , qu quşu
Bashkir: аҡҡош ( aqqoş )
Basque: beltxarga
Belarusian: ле́бедзь m ( ljébjedzʹ )
Bengali: রাজহাঁস (bn) ( rajohãs )
Breton: alarc’h (br) m , alarh m
Bulgarian: ле́бед (bg) m ( lébed )
Burmese: ငန်း (my) ( ngan: )
Burushaski: please add this translation if you can
Buryat: хун ( xun ) ( Russian Buryat )
Catalan: cigne (ca) m
Chechen: гӏургӏаз ( ğurğaz )
Cherokee: ᎧᎳᎩᏌ ( kalagisa )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鵠 / 鹄 (zh) ( hú ) , 天鵝 / 天鹅 (zh) ( tiān'é )
Chukchi: нэрӄуӄ ( nėrquq )
Chuvash: акӑш ( ak̬ăš )
Cornish: alargh (kw) m
Czech: labuť (cs) f
Danish: svane (da) c
Dolgan: куба ( kuba )
Dutch: zwaan (nl) f or m
Erzya: локсей ( lokśej )
Esperanto: cigno (eo)
Estonian: luik (et)
Etruscan: 𐌕𐌖𐌔𐌍𐌀 ( tusna )
Even: хуси ( husi )
Evenki: багдавкӣ ( bagdawkī ) , gäre , ük-si
Faroese: svanur m , okn f
Finnish: joutsen (fi)
French: cygne (fr) m , cygne mâle m , cygne femelle m , cygneau (fr) m , cygnet (fr) m , jeune cygne m
Friulian: cesen m , cign m
Gagauz: kuu
Galician: cisne (gl) m
Georgian: გედი ( gedi )
German: Schwan (de) m , Schwänin (de) f
Greek: κύκνος (el) m ( kýknos )
Ancient: κύκνος m ( kúknos )
Greenlandic: qussuk
Gujarati: હંસ m ( hãs )
Hebrew: ברבור (he) m ( barbúr )
Hindi: हंस (hi) m ( hans )
Hungarian: hattyú (hu)
Hunsrik: Schwaan m
Icelandic: álft (is) f , svanur (is) m
Ido: cigno (io)
Indonesian: angsa (id) , soang (id)
Ingrian: luikko , joutsen
Interlingua: cygno
Irish: eala (ga) f
Old Irish: ela f , géis f
Italian: cigno (it) m
Japanese: 鵠 (ja) ( くぐい, kugui ) , 白鳥 (ja) ( はくちょう, hakuchō ) , ハクチョウ (ja) ( hakuchō )
Javanese: banyak (jv)
Kabardian: please add this translation if you can
Kalmyk: хун ( xun )
Kannada: ಹಂಸ (kn) ( haṃsa )
Karachay-Balkar: къанкъаз ( qanqaz )
Karakalpak: quw
Kashmiri: أنٛز m ( ạnz ) , أنٛزِنؠ f ( ạnzin' )
Kashubian: kôłp m , kôłp m , łabãdz m
Kazakh: аққу ( aqqu )
Khakas: хуу ( xuu )
Khmer: ហង្ស (km) ( hɑng )
Korean: 고니 (ko) ( goni ) , 백조(白鳥) (ko) ( baekjo )
Kumyk: къув ( quw )
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: قوو ( qû )
Northern Kurdish: qû (ku) , qazquling (ku)
Kyrgyz: ак куу ( ak kuu )
Ladin: zign m
Latin: cygnus (la) m , ( Poetic ) olor (la) m
Latvian: gulbis (lv) m
Lithuanian: gulbė (lt) f
Low German: Swaan m , Swoon m , swan , swane
Macedonian: лебед (mk) m ( lebed )
Malay: joyinah ( Malaysia )
Malayalam: അരയന്നം (ml) ( arayannaṁ ) , ഹംസം (ml) ( haṁsaṁ )
Maltese: ċinju m
Manchu: ᡤᠠᡵᡠ ( garu )
Manx: olla , ollay
Maori: wani
Mari:
Eastern Mari: йӱксӧ ( jüksö )
Meänkieli: jouhkainen
Mon: ၜိုပ် (mnw)
Mongolian: хун (mn) ( xun )
Nanai: куку ( kuku )
Navajo: dééłgai
Norwegian:
Bokmål: svane (no) m or f
Nynorsk: svane f
Occitan: cicne (oc) m
Old English: swan m , ielfete f
Old Norse: svanr m , ǫlpt f , álpt f
Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰆𐰍𐰆 ( quɣu )
Osage: míɣa ška
Ottoman Turkish: قوغو ( kuğu )
Pali: haṃsa m
Pashto: هېلۍ f ( heləi )
Persian: قو (fa) ( qu ) , جویینه ( jūyīna )
Plautdietsch: Schwon m
Polish: łabędź (pl) m
Portuguese: cisne (pt) m
Romani: baro-gansako m , bari-papin f
Romanian: lebădă (ro) f
Romansch: cign m
Russian: ле́бедь (ru) m ( lébedʹ )
Sami:
Inari Sami: njuhčâ
Kildin Sami: нюххч ( njuxxč )
Lule Sami: sjnjuktja
Northern Sami: njukča ( Cygnus gygnus ) , boallonjukča ( Cygnus olor )
Skolt Sami: njuhčč
Southern Sami: njuktje
Sanskrit: हंस (sa) m ( haṃsa )
Sardinian: sìsini , cisne , tzignu
Saterland Frisian: Swoan
Scottish Gaelic: eala
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: лабуд m
Roman: labud (sh) m
Shor: қуу ( quu )
Sicilian: cinnu (scn) m , cignu (scn) m
Slovak: labuť (sk) f
Slovene: labod (sl) m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: šwon m , kołp m
Upper Sorbian: kołp m
Southern Altai: куу ( kuu )
Spanish: cisne (es) m
Sudovian: gulbīs m
Sundanese: soang
Swahili: bata-maji
Swedish: svan (sv) c
Tagalog: sisne
Tajik: қу (tg) ( qu )
Tamil: அன்னம் (ta) ( aṉṉam )
Tatar: aqqoş
Telugu: హంస (te) ( haṁsa )
Thai: หงส์ (th) ( hǒng )
Turkish: kuğu (tr)
Turkmen: guw
Tuvan: куу ( kuu )
Udmurt: юсь ( juś )
Ukrainian: ле́бідь (uk) m ( lébidʹ )
Urdu: ہنس m
Uyghur: ئاق قۇ ( aq qu )
Uzbek: oqqush (uz)
Venetan: zésamo
Vietnamese: thiên nga (vi)
Volapük: svan (vo)
Welsh: alarch (cy) m
West Frisian: swan m
Yakut: куба ( kuba )
Yiddish: שוואַן m ( shvan )
Verb
swan (third-person singular simple present swans , present participle swanning , simple past and past participle swanned )
( intransitive ) To travel or move about in an aimless , idle , or pretentiously casual way.
2010 , Lee Rourke, The Canal , Melville House Publishing, →ISBN , unnumbered page :He swans around that stinking office in his expensive clothes that are a little too tight for comfort, he swans around that stinking office without a care in the world.
2013 , Tilly Bagshawe, One Summer’s Afternoon , HarperCollin, →ISBN :One of the few strokes of good luck Emma had had in recent days was the news that Tatiana Flint-Hamilton, her only real rival for top billing as 'most photographable girl' at today's event had decided to swan off to Sardinia instead, leaving the limelight entirely to Emma.
2022 , Ling Ma , “G”, in Bliss Montage , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN :On the other side: the rich, beautiful tapestry of WASP culture that constituted Levis's life—friends playing horseshoes at backyard cocktail parties, where girls swanned in chaise longues, clinking their gin and tonics.
Usage notes
In the sense “to travel”, usually used as part of the phrase “to swan about ” or “to swan around”.
Etymology 2
Probably from dialectal I s’wan , a corruption of I shall warrant ; or possibly from a minced form of I swear on .
Verb
swan (third-person singular simple present swans , present participle swanning , simple past and past participle swanned )
( US , dialectal or colloquial ) To declare (chiefly in first-person present constructions).
1907 December, J. D. Archer, “Foiling an eavesdropper”, in Telephony , volume 14 , page 345 :"Well, I swan , man, I had a better opinion of you than that."
1940 , Raymond Chandler , Farewell, My Lovely , Penguin, published 2010 , page 214 :‘She slammed the door so hard I figured a window'd break [ …] .’ ‘I swan ,’ I said.
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English swan , from Proto-West Germanic *swan , from Proto-Germanic *swanaz .
Pronunciation
Noun
swan (plural swannes )
swan ( bird of the genus Cygnus )
The meat of a swan.
( heraldry ) A swan as a heraldic symbol.
Descendants
References
Etymology 2
From Old English swān .
Noun
swan
Alternative form of swon ( “ pigherder ” )
Old English
Etymology 1
From Proto-West Germanic *swan , from Proto-Germanic *swanaz , probably from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- ( “ to sound, resound ” ) . Compare Old Saxon swan (Low German Swaan ), Dutch zwaan , Old High German swan (German Schwan ), Old Norse svanr (Swedish svan ).
Pronunciation
Noun
swan m
swan
Declension
Strong a -stem:
Synonyms
Descendants
Etymology 2
From Proto-Germanic *swainaz . Doublet of sweġen , a borrowing from Old Norse.
Pronunciation
Noun
swān m
man ; warrior
herdsman ; herder
servant
boy ; lad
Descendants
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian *swan , from Proto-West Germanic *swan , from Proto-Germanic *swanaz , probably from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- ( “ to sound, resound ” ) .
Noun
swan c (plural swannen , diminutive swantsje )
swan
Derived terms
Further reading
“swan ”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011