swain

/sweɪn/

swain noun: a young man or boy in service; a servant.

Noun

swain (plural swains)

(obsolete) A young man or boy in service; a servant.
(obsolete) A knight's servant; an attendant.
(archaic) A country labourer; a countryman, a rustic.
- theſe that ſeeme but ſilly country Swaines,
  May haue the leading of so great an hoſte,
  As with their waight ſhal make the mountains quake.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
(poetic) A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting.
- Why thus from the Plain does my Shepherdess rove
  Forsaking Her Swain and neglecting his love?a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Chanson Francoise. Translated”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press...
- “Oh, dear Miss Dobson, will you but accept my hand, all these things shall be yours—the cards, the canister, the goldfish, the demon egg-cup—all yours!” Zuleika, with ravishing coyness, answered that if he would give her them now, she would “think it over.” The swain consented, and at bed-time she...1911, Max Beerbohm, chapter II, in Zuleika Dobson

Proper noun capitalized: Swain

Swain (plural Swains)

A surname.

swain meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

swain in Tamil

காதலன், விரும்பி, நேசன், நாட்டுப்புற இளைஞன், குடியானவன்

swain in Bengali

সোয়েন

More languagesFewer languages

swain in Malayalam: സ്വെയ്ൻ, സ്വെയിൻ
swain in Punjabi: ਸਵੈਨ
swain in Gujarati: સ્વૈન
swain in Odia: ସ୍ୱେନ୍, ସ୍ୱୈନ୍

Forms of swain

Noun
plural	swains
alternative form (obsolete)	swaine
alternative form (obsolete)	swein
Proper noun
plural	Swains
alternative form	Swaine

Origin of swain

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”).

Words formed from swain

Words that rhyme with swain

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about swain

What does swain mean?: Swain means a young man or boy in service; a servant.
What is swain in Hindi?: Swain in Hindi is स्वैन. See Swain meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is swain?: Swain can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce swain?: Swain is pronounced /sweɪn/.
What is the plural of swain?: The plural of swain is swains.

Words near swain in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: swain (page history and authors); Swain (page history and authors); swain (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); swain (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); swain (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); swain (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); swain (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); swain (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); swain (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); swain (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-swain.wav.

Cite this entry: “swain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.