swith
/ˈswɪθ/
swith adjective: strong; vehement.
Adjective
Adverb
swith (comparative swither, superlative swithest)
- Quickly, speedily, promptly.
- As ye disown yon paughty dog, / That bears the keys of Peter, / Then swith! an' get a wife to hug,1786, Robert Burns, A Dream
- “Body of us, man!” said the king, “it is the speech of a true man and a loving subject, and we will grace him accordingly—what though he be but a carle—a twopenny cat may look at a king. Swith, man! have him—pundite fores.1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXVII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III) (in English), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable...
- Strongly; vehemently; very.
Forms of swith
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | swither |
| superlative | swithest |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | swither |
| superlative | swithest |
| alternative form | swithe |
Origin of swith
From Middle English swith, from Old English swīþ (“strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent”), from Proto-West Germanic *swinþ, from Proto-Germanic *swinþaz (“strong”). Cognate with Old Saxon swīth, Middle High German swind (Modern German geschwind (“fast, quick, swift”)), Middle Low German swîde (Modern Low German swied (“very, quite”)), Dutch gezwind (“fast, quick, swift”), West Frisian swiid (“impressive, special”), Old Norse svinnr, sviðr (“quick, clever, understanding, wise”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌸𐍃 (swinþs, “strong”). Possibly related to sound.
From Middle English swith, swithe, from Old English swīþe (“very much, exceedingly, severely, violently, fiercely”), from Proto-West Germanic *swinþā, from Proto-Germanic *swinþê (“strongly”), from Proto-Indo-European *swento- (“active, healthy”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian swied (“very”), West Frisian swiid (“very”), Dutch zwijd (“very, extremely”), Low German swied (“quite, very”), Dutch gezwind (“quick, swift”). Not related to superficially similar English swift.
Words formed from swith
Words that rhyme with swith
Questions about swith
- What does swith mean?
- Swith means strong; vehement.
- What part of speech is swith?
- Swith can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce swith?
- Swith is pronounced /ˈswɪθ/.
Words near swith in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swith (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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Cite this entry: “swith.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swith. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.