swank
/ˈsweɪ̯ŋk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.66 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "The fish house or shack is built without windows, covered with tar paper to keep out the light and wind, and set on the ice over about ten feet of water in a spot off shore where fish have been known to habitate habitually. […] A couple of boxes to sit on and a plank or mat for your feet and a small airtight stove, if you want swank comfort."
- ""You live in that swank apartment round the corner." "Yes." "Hey you must be rich.""
- "You know it's swank when … It's very shiny / It's very tan / It's got Royale in its name"
- "[T]he Montgomery Block was the commercial and social center of San Francisco. […] Above [the ground floor] were a law library, the three rooms of the Mercantile Library Association, and a swank billiard room that ran nearly the entire length of the second floor."
- "Mr. Heinz belonged to a very swank club in Pittsburgh."
- "She arrived at a very swank studio, where Mr. Feldman introduced himself as the director of auditions."
Etymology
From dialectal swank (“to strut, behave ostentatiously”), perhaps from an unrecorded Old English root, derived from Proto-Germanic *swankijaną (“to cause to sway, swing”) or from Proto-Germanic *swankaz (“lithe, bendsome, slender”), related to the Scots swank and the Middle High German swanken, modern German schwanken (“to sway”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *swankijaną, *swankaz
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsweɪ̯ŋk/