sword
/soɹd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.37 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack.
Countable
noun
A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
noun
A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "He took out his sword and stabbed the man in the stomach."
- "Malicious tunges, though they have no bones, Are ſharper then ſwordes, ſturdier then ſtones."
- "Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently."
- "Some swords were also made solely to thrust, and some only to cut; others were equally adapted for both."
Etymology
Inherited from West Midland Middle English sword (swerd in most dialects), from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Swērt, Swiirt, swörd (“sword”), Saterland Frisian Swid, Swäid (“sword”), West Frisian swurd (“sword”), Dutch zwaard (“sword”), German Schwert (“sword”), Luxembourgish Schwäert (“sword”), Vilamovian świert (“sword”), Yiddish שווערד (shverd, “sword”), Danish sværd (“sword”), Faroese svørð (“sword”), Icelandic sverð (“sword”), Norn svird (“small longish object”), Norwegian Bokmål sverd (“sword”), Norwegian Nynorsk sverd, svørd (“sword”), Swedish svärd (“sword”); also Belarusian све́рдзел (svjérdzjel, “drill, drill bit”), Bulgarian свре́дел (svrédel, “drill, drill bit”), Czech svider (“drill bit”), Polish świder (“drill”), Russian сверло́ (sverló, “auger, bore, drill, drill bit”), Serbo-Croatian свр̏дло, svȑdlo (“auger”), Slovene sveder (“drill”), Ukrainian све́рдел (svérdel), све́рдло (svérdlo, “drill bit”).
Origin
- Source language: Old English
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /soɹd/
- British English: /sɔːd/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.