[sɔɹd], [sɔːd], [soːd]
OriginFrom Middle English sword, swerd, from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian Swērt, Swiirt, swörd (“sword”), Saterland Frisian Swid, Swäid (“sword”), West Frisian swurd (“sword”), Dutch zwaard (“sword”), German Schwert (“sword”), Luxembourgish Schwäert (“sword”), Vilamovian świert (“sword”), Yiddish שווערד (shverd, “sword”), Danish sværd (“sword”), Faroese svørð (“sword”), Icelandic sverð (“sword”), Norn svird (“small longish object”), Norwegian Bokmål sverd (“sword”), Norwegian Nynorsk sverd, svørd (“sword”), Swedish svärd (“sword”); also Belarusian све́рдзел (svjérdzjel, “drill, drill bit”), Bulgarian свре́дел (svrédel, “drill, drill bit”), Czech svider (“drill bit”), Polish świder (“drill”), Russian сверло́ (sverló, “auger, bore, drill, drill bit”), Serbo-Croatian свр̏дло, svȑdlo (“auger”), Slovene sveder (“drill”), Ukrainian све́рдел (svérdel), све́рдло (svérdlo, “drill bit”).
- countableA 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.
“He took out his sword and stabbed the man in the stomach.”
“Malicious tunges, though they have no bones,
Are ſharper then ſwordes, ſturdier then ſtones.”
“Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently.”
- A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
- A card of this suit.
- One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.
- uncommonTo stab or cut with a sword
Formsswords(plural) · swerd(alternative, obsolete) · sweard(alternative, obsolete) · swoord(alternative, obsolete) · swoorde(alternative, obsolete) · sworde(alternative, obsolete) · swords(present, singular, third-person) · swording(participle, present) · sworded(participle, past) · sworded(past) · Swords(plural) · Soard(alternative)