sweer

English

Alternative forms

• swear, sweir, swere

Etymology

From Middle English swere, sware, from Old English swǣr, swār (“heavy, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, great, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-West Germanic *swār, from Proto-Germanic *swēraz, *swērijaz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swɪə/
• Rhymes: -ɪə

Adjective

sweer (comparative more sweer, superlative most sweer)

1. (UK dialectal) Heavy.
2. (UK dialectal) Dull; indolent; lazy.
3. (UK dialectal) Reluctant; unwilling; disinclined.

Anagrams

• Ewers, Weser, ewers, re-sew, resew, sewer, weres

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch zweren, from Middle Dutch sweren, from Old Dutch *swerien, sweren, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *swer-.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

sweer (present sweer, present participle swerende, past participle gesweer)

1. to swear

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *sweur, *swēr, from Proto-Germanic *swehuraz, from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱuros.

Noun

swêer m

1. male in-law
2. father-in-law

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

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

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Saterland Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian swēr, from Proto-West Germanic *swār. Cognates include West Frisian swier and German schwer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sveːr/
• Hyphenation: sweer
• Rhymes: -eːr

Adjective

sweer (masculine sweren, feminine, plural or definite swere, comparative swarrer, superlative sweerst)

1. heavy

References

• Marron C. Fort (2015) “sweer”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

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Scots

Adjective

sweer (comparative mair sweer, superlative maist sweer)

1. Alternative form of sweir