/swiːt/, /swit/
OriginFrom Middle English swete, from Old English swēte (“sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī, from Proto-Germanic *swōtuz (“sweet”), from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (“sweet”).
Cognate and synonymous with Scots sweit (“sweet”), North Frisian sweete (“sweet”), Saterland Frisian swäit (“sweet”), West Frisian swiet (“sweet”), Dutch zoet (“sweet”), German Low German sööt (“sweet”), German süß (“sweet”), Danish sød (“sweet”), Swedish söt (“sweet”), Norwegian søt (“sweet”), Icelandic sætur (“sweet”), Latin suāvis, Sanskrit स्वादु (svādú), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús). Doublet of suave.
- Tasting of sugars.
“a sweet apple”
“A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami”
- Retaining a portion of sugar.
“Sweet wines are better dessert wines.”
- Not of a salty taste.
- Of a pleasant smell.
“a sweet scent”
“Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, / I will give them all back again.”
- Not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale.
- Of a pleasant sound.
“a sweet tune”
“Smooth jazz music has sweet drum beats and cymbals!”
“The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings.”
- Of a pleasing disposition.
“a sweet child”
“It was sweet of her to send some roses for her unwell grandmother.”
“You're so sweet!”
- Of a helpful disposition.
“It was sweet of him to help out.”
- Free from excessive unwanted substances like acid or sulphur.
“sweet gas”
“sweet soil”
“sweet crude oil”
- informalVery pleasing; agreeable.
“The new Lexus was a sweet birthday gift.”
“Her crew knew that deep in her heart beat engines fit and able to push her blunt old nose ahead at a sweet fourteen knots, come Hell or high water.”
“14 November 2014, Steven Haliday, Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero
GORDON Strachan enjoyed the sweetest of his 16 matches in charge of Scotland so far as his team enhanced their pros”
- Australia, slangDoing well; in a good or happy position.
“"Visit in two days though," said Tommo. "Hang in there mate, got a joey coming, we'll be sweet then."”
- informalRomantically fixated; enamored with; fond of.
“The attraction was mutual and instant; they were sweet on one another from first sight.”
- Fresh; not salt or brackish.
“sweet water”
“The white of an egg, or blood mingled with salt water, doth gather the saltness and maketh the water sweeter; this may be by adhesion.”
“Nothing has been found so effectual for preserving water sweet at sea, during long voyages, as charring the insides of the casks well before they are filled.”
- UK, datedAlkaline.
- Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair.
“a sweet face”
“a sweet colour or complexion”
“Sweet interchange / Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains.”
- An intensifier.
“For someone who hadn't seen her only sister in over twenty years, Alice sure took her sweet time.”
- Used as a positive response to good news or information.
“They're making a sequel? Ah, sweet!”
- In a pleasant manner.
“Go down beside thy native rill,
On thy Parnassus set thy feet,
And hear thy laurel whisper sweet
About the ledges of the hill.”
- uncountableThe basic taste sensation induced by sugar.
- India, UK, countable, especiallyA confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a candy.
- UK, countable, especiallyA food eaten for dessert.
“Can we see the sweet menu, please?”
- countable, uncountableSynonym of sweetheart, a term of affection.
“VVherefore frovvnes my ſvveet? / Haue I too long bene abſent from theſe lips, / This cheeke, theſe eyes?”
“"You think that I'll take anything."
"I know you will, sweet..."
"There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be."
"Well, there is now," she said sweetly.”
“Good evening, my sweet.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableThat which is sweet or pleasant in odour; a perfume.
- countable, obsolete, uncountableSweetness, delight; something pleasant to the mind or senses.
“Fear's fire to fervency, which makes love's sweet prove nectar.”
- archaic, poeticTo sweeten.
“In size and shape it resembles the heart of a calf, and the interior substance is similar to thick cream, sweeted with fine sugar.”
“It might also be given in the form of a mixture — the drug being insoluble in a watery menstruum — suspended by the aid of mucilage and sweeted by any of the various flavoring syrups.”
“Bring me now where the warm wind blows, where the grasses sigh, where the sweet-tongued blossom flowers; where the shower, fan soft like a fishermans net thrown through the sweeted air.”
- A surname.
- A female given name.
- An unincorporated community in Gem County, Idaho, United States.
Formssweeter(comparative) · sweetest(superlative) · more sweet(comparative) · most sweet(superlative) · sweets(plural) · sweets(present, singular, third-person) · sweeting(participle, present) · sweeted(participle, past) · sweeted(past)