# sweet
## English
### Etymology

From 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.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /swiːt/
* (General American) IPA: /swit/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Homophone: suite
* Rhymes: -iːt

### Adjective

sweet (comparative sweeter, superlative sweetest)
* Tasting of sugars.
    a sweet apple
** 2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired: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 all set off their own neural cascades.
* (wine) Retaining a portion of sugar.
    Sweet wines are better dessert wines.
* Not of a salty taste.
    sweet butter
* Of a pleasant smell.
    a sweet scent
** 1838 October, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Reaper and the Flowers”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1839, →OCLC, page 8: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.
    sweet milk
* Of a pleasant sound.
    a sweet tune
** a. 1823 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Hymn of Pan”, in Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, editor, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 169: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.
** 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Ticknor and Fields, page 135:a voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful
* Of a pleasing disposition.
    a sweet child
    You're so sweet!
** 2017 April 13, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile‎, performed by Lovelytheband:There's something tragic, but almost pure / Think I could love you, but I'm not sure / There's something wholesome, there's something sweet / Tucked in your eyes that I'd love to meet
* Of a helpful disposition.
    It was sweet of him to help out.
* (mineralogy) Free from excessive unwanted substances like acid or sulphur.
    sweet gas
    sweet soil
    sweet crude oil
* (informal) Very pleasing; agreeable.
    The new Lexus was a sweet birthday gift.
** 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1: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 prospects of Euro 2016 qualification with a crucial and deserved victory over Republic of Ireland.
* (Australia, slang) Doing well; in a good or happy position.
** 2012, John Hoskison, Inside: One Man's Experience of Prison:"Visit in two days though," said Tommo. "Hang in there mate, got a joey coming, we'll be sweet then."
* (informal, followed by on) Romantically 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
** 1627, Francis Bacon, “Sylva Sylvarum: or A Natural History”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, published 1826, page 66: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.
** 1821, Robert Thomas, The modern practice of physic, page 713: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.
* (of soil, UK, dated) Alkaline.
* Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair.
    a sweet face
    a sweet colour or complexion
** 1667, John Milton, Paradise lost (source), Samuel Simmons, page 278:
    Sweet interchange / Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains.
* An intensifier.
** 2014, Rexanne Becnel, Leaving L.A., page 12:For someone who hadn't seen her only sister in over twenty years, Alice sure took her sweet time.

#### Synonyms

* (of a taste of sugar): saccharine, sugary
* (containing a sweetening ingredient): sugared, sweetened
* (not of a salty taste): fresh, unsalty
* (of a pleasant smell): fragrant, odoriferous, odorous, perfumed, scented, sweet-scented, sweet-smelling
* (not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale): fresh, unfermented, wholesome
* (of a pleasant sound): dulcet, honeyed, mellifluous, mellisonant
* (of a pleasing disposition): cute, lovable, pleasant
* (of a helpful disposition): kind, gracious, helpful, sensitive, thoughtful
* ((informal) very pleasing): rad, awesome, wicked

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “of a pleasant taste”): bitter, sour, salty
* (antonym(s) of “containing a sweetening ingredient”): nonsweet, sugarless, unsugared, unsweetened, unsweet
* (antonym(s) of “of wines: retaining a portion of natural sugar”): dry
* (antonym(s) of “not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale”): decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, stale
* (antonym(s) of “not of a salty taste”): salty, savoury
* (antonym(s) of “free from excessive unwanted substances”): sour
* (antonym(s) of “alkaline”): sour
* (antonym(s) of “(informal) very pleasing”): lame, uncool

#### Derived terms

* bittersweet
* boiled sweet
* Chinese fermented sweet rice
* Chinese sweet fermented rice
* eye-sweet
* fermented sweet rice
* flower-sweet
* Guthrie's sweet whiskey
* home sweet home
* honey-sweet
* keep someone sweet
* meadowsweet
* money won is twice as sweet as money earned
* one more time for the sweet souvenir
* revenge is sweet
* semi-sweet
* semisweet
* short and sweet
* sickeningly sweet
* sickly sweet, sickly-sweet
* sour-sweet
* sticky-sweet
* sugar-sweet
* sweet 13
* sweet 15
* sweet 16
* sweet 17
* sweet acacia
* sweet-after-death
* sweet alison
* sweet almond
* sweet alyssum
* sweet-amber
* sweet and sour
* sweet-and-sour
* sweet-and-sour sauce
* sweet anise
* sweet annie
* sweet Annie
* sweet as
* sweet as a nut
* sweet as candy
* sweet as pie
* sweet azalea
* sweet ball
* sweet balm
* sweet band
* sweet basil
* sweet bay
* sweet bean sauce
* sweet bells
* sweet birch
* sweetbread
* sweet bread
* sweet-breare
* sweet-breasted
* sweet briar
* sweet-briar
* sweetbriar
* sweet brier
* sweet-brier
* sweet bursaria
* sweet butter
* sweet calabash
* sweet cassava
* sweet cheeks
* sweet cherry
* sweet chestnut
* sweet chocolate
* sweet cicely
* sweet cider
* sweet clover
* sweet coltsfoot
* sweet corn, sweet-corn, sweetcorn
* sweet cream
* sweet crude
* sweet cup
* sweet dreams
* sweet elder
* sweeten
* sweetener
* sweet F A
* sweet FA
* sweet Fanny Adams
* sweet fenugreek
* sweet fermented rice
* sweet fern
* sweet fifteen
* sweet flag
* sweet four o'clock
* sweet fuck all
* sweet gale
* sweet goldenrod
* sweetgrass
* sweet grass
* Sweet Grass County
* sweet gum
* sweet gum tree
* sweet hereafter
* Sweet Home
* sweet horsemint
* sweet iron
* sweetish
* sweet Jesus
* sweet John
* sweet Judas
* sweetkin
* sweet leaf
* sweet-leaf
* sweet lemon
* sweet lime
* sweetly
* sweet marjoram
* sweet Mary
* sweet Mary mother of God
* sweet maudlin
* sweetmeat
* sweet melon
* sweet milk
* sweet Moses
* sweet mother of God
* sweet mother of Jesus
* sweet mother of Moses
* sweet mother of pearl
* sweet-Nancy
* sweet-natured
* sweetness
* sweet nothing
* sweet nothings
* sweet oil
* sweet on
* sweet orange
* sweet osmanthus
* sweet pea
* sweet pepper
* sweet pepperbush
* sweet pickle
* sweet potato
* sweet rice wine
* sweet rocket
* sweet roll
* sweetroot
* sweet rush
* sweet rye bread
* sweets
* sweet savage romance
* sweet savagery
* sweet scabious
* sweet science
* sweet seventeen
* sweet shrimp
* sweet shrub
* Sweet Sixteen
* sweet sixteen
* sweet-smelling
* sweet smell of success
* sweetsop
* sweet-sop
* sweet sorghum
* sweet spirits of nitre
* sweet-spoken
* sweet spot
* sweet sultan
* sweet summer child
* sweet talk
* sweet-talk
* sweet talker
* sweet tea
* sweet-tempered
* sweet thirteen
* sweet thorn
* sweet tooth
* sweet-toothed
* sweet unicorn plant
* sweet vermouth
* sweet vernal grass
* sweet vetch
* sweet violet
* sweet water
* Sweetwater
* sweet wattle
* sweet whiskey
* sweet william, Sweet William
* sweet woodruff
* sweet wormwood
* sweety
* sweet yarrow
* sweet young thing
* take one's sweet little time
* take one's sweet time
* take the bitter with the sweet
* Thai fermented sweet rice
* Thai sweet fermented rice
* unsweet
* Vietnamese fermented sweet rice
* winter sweet

#### See also

Basic tastes in English (layout · text) :
| sweet | sour | salty | bitter | spicy | savory |

### Interjection

sweet
* Used as a positive response to good news or information.
    They're making a sequel? Ah, sweet!

### Adverb

sweet (comparative more sweet, superlative most sweet)
* In a pleasant manner.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXVII, page 57:Go down beside thy native rill, ⁠On thy Parnassus set thy feet, ⁠And hear thy laurel whisper sweet About the ledges of the hill.

#### Synonyms

* (in a sweet manner): sweetly

#### Translations
### Noun

sweet (countable and uncountable, plural sweets)
* (uncountable) The basic taste sensation induced by sugar.
* (countable, especially UK) A confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a candy.
* (countable, especially UK) A food eaten for dessert.
    Can we see the sweet menu, please?
* Synonym of sweetheart, a term of affection.
** 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act I, signature B2, verso:VVherefore frovvnes my ſvveet? / Haue I too long bene abſent from theſe lips, / This cheeke, theſe eyes?
** 1936 Aug., Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", Cosmopolitan:
    "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.
* (obsolete) That which is sweet or pleasant in odour; a perfume.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:a wilderness of sweets
* (obsolete) Sweetness, delight; something pleasant to the mind or senses.
** 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, III.2:Fear's fire to fervency, which makes love's sweet prove nectar.

#### Synonyms

* (sweet taste sensation): See sweetness
* (food that is high in sugar content): bonbon, candy (US), confection, confectionery, lolly (Australia)
* (food eaten for dessert): See dessert

#### Derived terms

* cough sweet
* milk sweet
* penny sweet
* spoon sweet
* sweet shop, sweetshop
* throat sweet

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

sweet (third-person singular simple present sweets, present participle sweeting, simple past and past participle sweeted)
* (archaic or poetic) To sweeten.
** 1825, John Breckinridge, C.R. Harrison, Western Luminary ... - Volume 1, page 318:In size and shape it resembles the heart of a calf, and the interior substance is similar to thick cream, sweeted with fine sugar.
** 1890, The Cincinnati Lancet-clinic - Volume 63, page 331: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.
** 1997, Morag Styles, From the Garden to the Street, →ISBN: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.
** 2012, Keith Ringkamp, PATIENCE WORTH: A Balm for Every Ill, →ISBN, page 34:A sour maketh sweets two-fold sweeted.

#### Derived terms

* sweet upon

### See also

* toot sweet

### Anagrams

* Tewes, weest, weets

## Afrikaans
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /svɪə̯t/

### Etymology 1

From Dutch zweet, from Middle Dutch sweet, from Old Dutch *sweit, *swēt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, from Proto-Indo-European *sweyd-.

#### Noun

sweet (uncountable)
* sweat
    Daar was baie sweet op haar voorhoof.There was a lot of sweat on her forehead.

### Etymology 2

From Dutch zweten, from Middle Dutch swêten.

#### Verb

sweet (present sweet, present participle swetende, past participle gesweet)
* to sweat

## Chinese
### Alternative forms

* 時weet / 时weet (si$^4$ wit$^1$), 是weet (si$^6$ wit$^1$), 士weet (si$^6$ wit$^1$)

### Etymology

From English sweet.

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): si$^4$ wit$^1$ / si$^6$ wit$^1$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: si$^4$ wit$^1$ / si$^6$ wit$^1$
*** Yale: sìh wīt / sih wīt
*** Cantonese Pinyin: si$^4$ wit$^7$ / si$^6$ wit$^7$
*** Guangdong Romanization: xi$^4$ wid$^1$ / xi$^6$ wid$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /siː²¹ wiːt̚⁵/, /siː²² wiːt̚⁵/

### Adjective

sweet
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) romantic

#### Derived terms

* sweet sweet

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

From Old Dutch *swēt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-.

### Noun

swêet n
* sweat, perspiration

#### Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

#### Alternative forms

* sweit

#### Derived terms

* swêten

#### Descendants

* Dutch: zweet
* Limburgish: zweit

### Further reading

* “sweet”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
* Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “sweet”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

## Yola
### Etymology

From Middle English swete, from Old English swēte, from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /swiːt/

### Adjective

sweet
* sweet
** 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 94:Hea marreet dear Phielim to his sweet Jauane.He married dear Phelim to his sweet Joan.

#### Derived terms

* sweethearth

### References

* Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 94