swan
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂-der.
Proto-Indo-European *swónh₂-osder.
Proto-Germanic *swanaz
Proto-West Germanic *swan
Old English swan
Middle English swan
English swan
From Middle English swan, from Old English swan, from Proto-West Germanic *swan, from Proto-Germanic *swanaz (“swan”, literally “the singing bird”), from Proto-Indo-European *swonh₂-/*swenh₂- (“to sing, make sound”).
Cognate with West Frisian swan, Low German Swaan, swan, Dutch zwaan, German Schwan, Danish svane, Norwegian svane, Swedish svan. Related also to Old English ġeswin (“melody, song”), Old English swinsian (“to make melody”).
Further cognates include (possibly) Russian звон (zvon, “ring, chime”); Latin sonus (“sound”), Sanskrit स्वन् (svan, “sound”).
Doublet of sound.
Inflected forms:
form: swans
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: swan
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: swans
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swanning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swanned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: swanned
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Any of various species of large, long-necked waterfowl, of genus Cygnus (bird family: Anatidae), most of which have white plumage.
pos: noun
gloss: One whose grace etc. suggests a swan.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: This bird used as a heraldic charge, sometimes with a crown around its neck (e. g. the arms of Buckinghamshire).
pos: noun
gloss: To travel or move about in an aimless, idle, or pretentiously casual way.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He swans around that stinking office in his expensive clothes that are a little too tight for comfort, he swans around that stinking office without a care in the world.
One of the few strokes of good luck Emma had had in recent days was the news that Tatiana Flint-Hamilton, her only real rival for top billing as 'most photographable girl' at today's event had decided to swan off to Sardinia instead, leaving the limelight entirely to Emma.
On the other side: the rich, beautiful tapestry of WASP culture that constituted Levis's life—friends playing horseshoes at backyard cocktail parties, where girls swanned in chaise longues, clinking their gin and tonics.
He developed the Capitalcard, which combined Tube and train travel - a return fare from a NSE station would include free Tube travel for the day after 0930, with the slogan 'Swanning around London' on posters featuring the bird.
Derived words: Bewick's swan
black-necked swan
black swan
black swan event
black swan fallacy
cobswan
coscoroba swan
graceful as a swan
gwan
mute swan
New Zealand swan
nonswan
Old Swan
Swan
Swan Bay
swanbill
swan boat
Swanbrook
Swan Creek
swan dive
swan-dive
swaness
swan goose
swan grebe
swanherd
Swan Hill
swanhood
swan hopper
swan hopping
Swan Lake
swanless
swanlike
swan-like
swan-likeness
swanliness
swanling
swanly
swan maiden
swan mark
swanmark
Swan Marsh
swan moth
swan mussel
Swan Nebula
swan neck
swan-neck
swan neck deformity
swan-necked
swan-necked grebe
swannery
swanness
swannish
swannishness
swan plant
Swan River
Swans Crossing
swansdown
swanship
swan shot
swanskin
swan's neck
swan song
swansong
swan's road
swan upper
swan upping
Swan Vale
Swan Village
swoose
Swoose
trumpeter swan
tundra swan
whistling swan
White Swan
whooper swan
whooping swan
Translations: