sword

English

Alternative forms

• swerd (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sword, swerd, from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd, from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”). Cognate with Scots swuird, swerd, sword (“sword”), North Frisian swird (“sword”), West Frisian swurd (“sword”), Dutch zwaard (“sword”), Low German Sweerd, Schwert (“sword”), German Schwert (“sword”), Danish sværd, Norwegian sverd, Swedish svärd (“sword”), Icelandic sverð (“sword”), Old East Slavic свьрдьлъ (svĭrdĭlŭ, “drill”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key):
• (Standard Southern British, MLE) IPA^(key):
• (Ireland) IPA^(key):
• (General American, Scotland) IPA^(key): ,

  audio (US):

  (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /so(ː)ɹd/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /soəd/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /swɔːrd/
• Homophone: soared; sawed (non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d

Noun

sword (plural swords)

1. (weaponry) A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack.
   • c. 1515–1516, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c., published 1568:

     Malicious tunges, though they have no bones,
     Are ſharper then ſwordes, ſturdier then ſtones.

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 59:

     Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently.

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 49:

     Some swords were also made solely to thrust, and some only to cut; others were equally adapted for both.

2. (card games) A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
3. (card games) A card of this suit.
4. (weaving) One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.

Coordinate terms

• (weaponry): bayonet, claymore, cutlass, dagger, epee, épée, falchion, foil, katana, knife, machete, rapier, sabre, saber, scimitar, vorpal, yataghan, yatagan

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: ソード

Translations

Verb

sword (third-person singular simple present swords, present participle swording, simple past and past participle sworded)

1. To stab or cut with a sword

Anagrams

• words

Middle English

Alternative forms

• swerd, sord, sworde, zuord

Etymology

From Old English sword, a Mercian form of sweord (which some forms are directly from), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd, from Proto-Germanic *swerdą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swɔrd/, /swoːrd/
• (from sweord) IPA^(key): /swɛrd/, /s(w)urd/

Noun

sword (plural swordes or (early) sweorden)

1. sword, sabre
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Matheu 10:34, page 4v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     Nile ȝe deme þat I cam to ſende pees in to erþe / I cam not to ſende pees .· but swerd

     Don't feel that I came to bring peace to Earth. I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword.

2. (figuratively) Military might or power.

Descendants

• English: sword
• Scots: swerd, sword

References

• “sword, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-16.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sword/,

Noun

sword n (nominative plural sword) (Mercian)

1. Alternative form of sweord