sowan

English

Etymology 1

Noun

sowan (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of sowens.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊ.ən/

Adverb

sowan

1. (England dialectal) Very, extremely.
   • 1889 March 23, Kendal and County News, quoted in the EDD:

     It's a sowan girt spot is Manchester.

   • 1950 [1882?], A Lafter O' Farleys in T' Dialects O' Lakeland, 1760-1945:

     […] tha led aald Dixon a sowan terbel time. She war a bonny lass war Dixon lass, en she'd a faace like a posy, en thoo nivver sah sic a bit a pink en white i' thi life; her cheeks war es nice er nicer ner enny pickter, en when she […]

Further reading

• Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “SOWAN”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume V (R–S), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈsowan/ [ˈso.wan]
• Rhymes: -owan
• Syllabification: so‧wan

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Javanese sowan (“to visit (one who is socially superior)”), from Old Javanese sowan (“to appear before (in the presence of) a person of superior rank”).

Noun

sowan

1. to visit or to appear before (one who is socially superior)

Derived terms

• sowan bekti

Etymology 2

Noun

sowan (plural sowan-sowan)

1. alternative form of soang (“swan”)

Further reading

• “sowan”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016