swan

See also: Swan

English

A swan.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /swɒn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /swɑn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒn

Etymology 1

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, Norwegian svane, Swedish svan. Related also to Old English ġeswin (“melody, song”), Old English swinsian (“to make melody”), Latin sonus (“sound”), Russian звон (zvon, “ringing”), Russian звук (zvuk, “sound”). Doublet of sound

Noun

swan (plural swans or swan)

1. Any of various species of large, long-necked waterfowl, of genus Cygnus (bird family: Anatidae), most of which have white plumage.
2. (figuratively) One whose grace etc. suggests a swan.
3. (heraldry) This bird used as a heraldic charge, sometimes with a crown around its neck (e. g. the arms of Buckinghamshire).

Derived terms

• Bewick's swan (Cygnus bewickii)
• black-necked swan (Cygnus melancoryphus)
• black swan (Cygnus atratus)
• graceful as a swan
• mute swan (Cygnus olor)
• Swan
• swan boat
• swan dive
• swan goose (Anser cygnoides)
• swan grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
• swanherd
• Swan Lake
• swan-like
• swanlike
• swan-likeness
• swanliness
• swanling
• swanly
• swan maiden
• swan moth (Euproctis similis)
• swan mussel (Anodonta cygnea)
• Swan Nebula
• swan-neck
• swan neck deformity
• swan-necked
• swan-necked grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
• swannery
• swanness
• swannish
• swannishness
• swan plant (Gomphocarpus physocarpus)
• swan’s
• swans’
• swansdown
• swanskin
• swan’s neck
• swan song
• swansong
• Swan Village
• trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator)
• tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus)
• whistling swan (Cygnus columbianus)
• White Swan
• whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus)

 

Translations

waterfowl of the genus Cygnus

• Afrikaans: swaan
• Ainu: レタッチㇼ (retatcir)
• Albanian: mjellmë (sq) f
• Algonquin: wequash
• Arabic: تَمّ‎ m (tamm), إِوَزّ عِرَاقِيّ‎ m (ʾiwazz ʿirāqiyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: وزة عراقي‎ f (weza ʕerāqi)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܩܘܩܢܘܣ‎ m (qūqnōs)

• Armenian: կարապ (hy) (karap)

  Old Armenian: կարապ (karap), պոր (por), փոր (pʿor), կիկնոս (kiknos)

• Assamese: ৰাজহাঁহ (razohãh)
• Asturian: cisne m
• Azerbaijani: qu, qu quşu
• Bashkir: аҡҡош (aqqoš)
• Basque: beltxarga
• Belarusian: ле́бедзь m (ljébjedzʹ)
• Breton: alarc’h (br) m
• Bulgarian: ле́бед (bg) m (lébed)
• Burmese: ငန်း (my) (ngan:)
• Burushaski: please add this translation if you can
• Buryat: хун (xun) (Russian Buryat)
• Catalan: cigne (ca) m
• Chechen: гӏургӏаз (ġurġaz)
• Cherokee: ᎧᎳᎩᏌ (kalagisa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鵠 (zh), 鹄 (zh) (hú), 天鵝 (zh), 天鹅 (zh) (tiān'é)

• Chukchi: нэрӄуӄ (nėrquq)
• Chuvash: акӑш (ak̬ăš)
• Czech: labuť (cs) f
• Danish: svane (da) c
• Dolgan: куба (kuba)
• Dutch: zwaan (nl) f or m
• Erzya: локсей (loksej)
• Esperanto: cigno (eo)
• Estonian: luik (et)
• Etruscan: 𐌕𐌖𐌔𐌍𐌀 (tusna)
• Even: хуси (husi)
• Evenki: багдавкӣ (bagdawkī), gäre (gäre), ük-si (ük-si)
• Faroese: svanur m, okn f
• Finnish: joutsen (fi)
• French: cygne (fr) m, cygne mâle m, cygne femelle m, cygneau (fr) m, cygnet (fr) m, jeune cygne m
• Friulian: cesen m, cign m
• Gagauz: kuu
• Galician: cisne (gl) m
• Georgian: გედი (gedi)
• German: Schwan (de) m, Schwänin (de) f
• Greek: κύκνος (el) m (kýknos)

  Ancient: κύκνος m (kúknos)

• Greenlandic: qussuk
• Gujarati: હંસ m (hãs)
• Hebrew: ברבור‎ (he) m (barbúr)
• Hindi: हंस (hi) m (hans)
• Hungarian: hattyú (hu)
• Hunsrik: Schwaan m
• Icelandic: álft (is) f, svanur (is) m
• Ido: cigno (io)
• Indonesian: angsa (id)
• Interlingua: cygno
• Irish: eala (ga) f

  Old Irish: ela f, géis f

• Italian: cigno (it) m
• Japanese: 鵠 (ja) (くぐい, kugui), 白鳥 (ja) (はくちょう, hakuchō), ハクチョウ (ja) (hakuchō)
• Javanese: banyak (jv)
• Kabardian: please add this translation if you can
• Kalmyk: хун (xun)
• Kannada: ಹಂಸ (kn) (haṃsa)
• Karachay-Balkar: къанкъаз (qanqaz)
• Karakalpak: quw
• Kashmiri: أنٛز‎ m (ạnz), أنٛزِنؠ‎ f (ạnzin')
• Kashubian: kôłp m, kôłp m, łabãdz m
• Kazakh: аққу (kk) (aqqw)
• Khakas: хуу (xuu)
• Khmer: ហង្ស (km) (hɑng)
• Korean: 고니 (ko) (goni), 백조(白鳥) (ko) (baekjo)
• Kumyk: къув (quw)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: qû (ku), qazquling (ku)

• Kyrgyz: ак куу (aq quu)
• Ladin: zign m
• Latin: cygnus (la) m, (Poetic) olor m
• Latvian: gulbis m

• Lithuanian: gulbė (lt) f
• Low German: Swaan m, Swoon m, swan, swane
• Macedonian: лебед m (lebed)
• Malayalam: അരയന്നം (ml) (arayannaṃ), ഹംസം (ml) (haṃsaṃ)
• Maltese: ċinju m
• Manchu: ᡤᠠᡵᡠ (garu)
• Manx: olla, ollay
• Maori: wani
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: йӱксӧ (jüksö)

• Meänkieli: jouhkainen
• Mon: ၜိုပ် (mnw)
• Mongolian: хун (mn) (khun)
• Nanai: куку
• Navajo: dééłgai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: svane (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: svane f

• Occitan: cicne (oc) m
• Old English: swan m, ielfete f
• Old Norse: svanr m, ǫlpt f, álpt f
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰆𐰍𐰆‎ (quɣu)
• Osage: míɣa ška
• Ottoman Turkish: قوغو‎ (quğu)
• Pali: haṃsa m
• Pashto: هېلۍ‎ f (heləi)
• Persian: قو‎ (fa) (qu)
• Plautdietsch: Schwon m
• Polish: łabędź (pl) m
• Portuguese: cisne (pt) m
• Romani: baro-gansako m, bari-papin f
• Romanian: lebădă (ro) f
• Romansch: cign m
• Russian: ле́бедь (ru) m (lébedʹ)
• Sami:

  Southern Sami: njuktje

  Lule Sami: sjnjuktja

  Northern Sami: njukča (Cygnus gygnus), boallonjukča (Cygnus olor)

  Inari Sami: njuhčâ

  Skolt Sami: njuhčč

• Sanskrit: हंस (sa) m (haṃsa)
• Sardinian: sìsini, cisne, tzignu
• Saterland Frisian: Swoan
• Scottish Gaelic: eala
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лабуд m

  Roman: labud (sh) m

• Shor: қуу (quu)
• Sicilian: cinnu (scn) m, cignu (scn) m
• Slovak: labuť f
• Slovene: labod (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: šwon m, kołp m

  Upper Sorbian: kołp m

• Southern Altai: куу (kuu)
• Spanish: cisne (es) m
• Sudovian: gulbīs m
• Sundanese: soang
• Swahili: bata-maji
• Swedish: svan (sv) c
• Tagalog: sisne
• Tajik: қу (tg) (qu)
• Tamil: அன்னம் (ta) (aṉṉam)
• Tatar: aqqoş
• Telugu: హంస (te) (haṁsa)
• Thai: หงส์ (th) (hǒng)
• Turkish: kuğu (tr)
• Turkmen: guw
• Tuvan: куу (kuu)
• Udmurt: юсь (jusʹ)
• Ukrainian: ле́бідь (uk) m (lébidʹ)
• Urdu: ہنس‎ m
• Uyghur: ئاق قۇ‎ (aq qu)
• Uzbek: oqqush (uz)
• Venetian: zésamo
• Vietnamese: thiên nga (vi)
• Volapük: svan (vo)
• Welsh: alarch (cy) m
• West Frisian: swan m
• Yakut: куба (kuba)
• Yiddish: שוואַן‎ m (shvan)

See also

• cob (adult male)
• cygnet (epicene, young)
• lamentation
• pen (adult female)

Verb

swan (third-person singular simple present swans, present participle swanning, simple past and past participle swanned)

1. (Britain, intransitive) To travel or move about in an aimless, idle, or pretentiously casual way.
   • 2010, Lee Rourke, The Canal‎^[1], Melville House Publishing, →ISBN, page unnumbered page:

     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.

   • 2013, Tilly Bagshawe, One Summer’s Afternoon‎^[2], HarperCollin, →ISBN:

Usage notes

• In the sense “to travel”, usually used as part of the phrase “to swan about” or “to swan around”.

Etymology 2

Probably from dialectal I s’wan, a corruption of I shall warrant; or possibly from a minced form of I swear on.

Alternative forms

• swanny

Verb

swan (third-person singular simple present swans, present participle swanning, simple past and past participle swanned)

1. (US, dialectal or colloquial) To declare (chiefly in first-person present constructions).
   • 1907 December, J. D. Archer, Foiling an eavesdropper, in Telephony, volume 14, page 345:

     "Well, I swan, man, I had a better opinion of you than that."

   • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, page 214:

     ‘She slammed the door so hard I figured a window'd break […] .’ ‘I swan,’ I said.

Anagrams

• NASW, WANs, Wans, awns, sawn, wans

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English swan, from Proto-West Germanic *swan, from Proto-Germanic *swanaz.

Alternative forms

• swanne, swane, suan, swon, sqwan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swan/

Noun

swan (plural swannes)

1. swan (bird of the genus Cygnus)
2. The meat of a swan.
3. (heraldry) A swan as a heraldic symbol.

Descendants

• English: swan
• Scots: swan

References

• “swan, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-11.

Etymology 2

From Old English swān.

Noun

swan

1. Alternative form of swon (“pigherder”)

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Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *swan, from Proto-Germanic *swanaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (“to sound, resound”). Compare Old Saxon swan (Low German Swaan), Dutch zwaan, Old High German swan (German Schwan), Old Norse svanr (Swedish svan).

Alternative forms

• swon, suan, suon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swɑn/

Noun

swan m

1. swan

Declension

Declension of swan (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	swan	swanas
accusative	swan	swanas
genitive	swanes	swana
dative	swane	swanum

Synonyms

• ielfete

Descendants

• Middle English: swan
  • English: swan
  • Scots: swan

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *swainaz. Doublet of sweġen, a borrowing from Old Norse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swɑːn/

Noun

swān m

1. man; warrior
2. herdsman; herder
3. servant
4. boy; lad

Descendants

• Middle English: swon, swan, swone

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian *swan, from Proto-West Germanic *swan, from Proto-Germanic *swanaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (“to sound, resound”).

Noun

swan c (plural swannen, diminutive swantsje)

1. swan

Derived terms

• briedswan
• gûlswan
• kloekswan
• klokswan
• knobbelswan
• trompetswan

Further reading

• “swan”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011