Word.ws English Dictionary

swainish

swainish adjective: pertaining to, or resembling, a swain according to any definition; but commonly conveying the sense of "ignorant", or "rustic".

Adjective

swainish (comparative more swainish, superlative most swainish)

  1. Pertaining to, or resembling, a swain according to any definition; but commonly conveying the sense of "ignorant", or "rustic".
    • [W]hen good and faire in one Perſon meet, argues both a groſſe and ſhallow Judgement, and withall an ungentle, and ſwainiſh breſt.1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually...
    • Falconer's characters are few; but the calm sagacious commander, and the rough obstinate Rodmond, are well contrasted. Some part of the love-story of Palemon is rather swainish and protracted, yet the effect of his being involved in the calamity, leaves a deeper sympathy in the mind for the...1819 Thomas Campbell, Specimens of the British Poets - Volume 6

Forms of swainish

comparativemore swainish
superlativemost swainish

Origin of swainish

From swain + -ish.

Questions about swainish

What does swainish mean?
Swainish means pertaining to, or resembling, a swain according to any definition; but commonly conveying the sense of "ignorant", or "rustic".
What part of speech is swainish?
Swainish is an adjective.

Words near swainish in the dictionary

  1. Swain County
  2. Swainby
  3. swaine
  4. swaines
  5. swaining
  6. swainish
  7. swainishness
  8. swainling
  9. swainlings
  10. swainmote
  11. swainmotes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: swainish (page history and authors). 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.

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