English Explanatory Dictionary

swain

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A young man or boy in service; a servant.
  2. A knight's servant; an attendant.
  3. A country labourer; a countryman, a rustic.
  4. A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/sweɪn/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-swain.wav

Word forms

swain swains swaine swein

Etymology

From Middle English swayn, swain, sweyn, swein, from Old English sweġen (attested also as personal name Swein, Sweġen), from Old Norse sveinn, from Proto-Germanic *swainaz (“relative, young man, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“oneself; separate; apart”), thus properly one's own. Cognate with Danish svend (“hireling, young man”), Norwegian svein (“lad, young man, servant”) Icelandic sveinn (“boy, lad, servant”), Swedish sven (“swain, servant”), Low German Sween, dialectal German Schwein, Old English swān (“swineherd, lad”).

Derived words

boatswain coxswain swaining swainish swainling swainmote swainship Swain County Swainsboro

Translations

Czech: nápadník Polish: wiejski kochanek
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary