sword

See also: Sword and s-word

English

A sword lying beside its scabbard.

Alternative forms

• swerd (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sword, swerd, from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”). Cognate with Scots swerd, sword (“sword”), North Frisian swird (“sword”), West Frisian swurd (“sword”), Dutch zwaard (“sword”), Low German Sweerd, Schwert (“sword”), German Schwert (“sword”), Danish sværd, Norwegian sverd, Swedish svärd (“sword”), Icelandic sverð (“sword”), Old East Slavic свьрдьлъ (svĭrdĭlŭ, “drill”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɔɹd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɔːd/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /so(ː)ɹd/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /soəd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d
• Homophone: soared; sawed (non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)

Noun

sword (plural swords)

1. (weaponry) A long-bladed weapon with a hilt, and usually a pommel and cross-guard, which is designed to stab, slash, and/or hack.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part III, Act II, Scene II, line 59.

     Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently.

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 49.

     Some swords were also made solely to thrust, and some only to cut; others were equally adapted for both.

2. (tarot) A suit in the minor arcana in tarot.
3. (tarot) A card of this suit.
4. (weaving) One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.
5. (heraldry) The weapon, often used as a heraldic charge.

Coordinate terms

• (weaponry): bayonet, claymore, cutlass, epee, épée, falchion, foil, katana, knife, machete, rapier, sabre, saber, scimitar, vorpal, yataghan, yatagan

Derived terms

terms derived from sword (noun)

• bastardsword
• broadsword
• double-edged sword
• fall on one’s sword
• longsword
• pork sword
• put to the sword
• samurai sword
• sellsword
• short sword
• sword bayonet
• swordbill
• sword cane
• swordcraft
• sword dance

• sword fern
• swordfish
• sword grass
• sword knot
• sword lily
• sword of Damocles
• swordbearer, sword-bearer
• swordbearing, sword-bearing
• swordplay
• swordsman
• swordsmanship
• swordstick
• sword-swallower
• two-hand sword

Translations

weapon

• Abkhaz: аса (āsā)
• Adyghe: чатэ (čātă)
• Afrikaans: swaard
• Albanian: shpatë (sq) f, pallë (sq) f
• Amharic: ሰይፍ (säyf)
• Arabic: سَيْف‎ (ar) m (sayf)

  Hijazi Arabic: سيف‎ m (sēf)

• Armenian: թուր (hy) (tʿur), սուր (hy) (sur)
• Aromanian: apalã f, spatã f, coardã f, cealãmi f, lipidã f
• Assamese: তৰোৱাল (torüal), হেংদাং (heṅdaṅ)
• Asturian: espada f
• Avar: кӏалден (ḳalden)
• Azerbaijani: qılınc (az)
• Baluchi: زہم‎ (zahm)
• Bashkir: ҡылыс (qïlïs)
• Basque: ezpata (eu)
• Belarusian: ша́бля f (šáblja), меч m (mječ)
• Bengali: অসি (ôsi)
• Breton: kleze (br) m, klezeñv m
• Bulgarian: меч (bg) m (meč)
• Burmese: ဓား (my) (dha:)
• Burushaski: please add this translation if you can
• Buryat: һэлмэ (helme)
• Catalan: espasa (ca) f
• Chakma: 𑄙𑄟 (dhāmā)
• Chechen: гӏалакх (ġalaq)
• Cherokee: ᎭᏰᎳᏍᏗ ᎦᏅᎯᏓ (hayelasdi ganvhida)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 劍, 剑 (gim³)

  Hakka: 劍, 剑 (kiam)

  Mandarin: 劍 (zh), 剑 (zh) (jiàn), 刀 (zh) (dāo)

  Min Dong: 劍, 剑 (giéng)

  Min Nan: 劍, 剑 (kiàm)

  Wu: 劍, 剑 (ji)

• Chuukese: ketinas
• Cornish: kledha m
• Czech: meč (cs) m
• Dalmatian: sputa f
• Danish: sværd c
• Dhivehi: ކަނދި‎ (kandi)
• Dutch: zwaard (nl) n
• Esperanto: glavo (eo)
• Estonian: mõõk (et)
• Faroese: svørð n, (archaic) mæki m
• Finnish: miekka (fi)
• French: épée (fr) f, glaive (fr) m

  Old French: espee f

• Friulian: spade f
• Gagauz: kılıç
• Galician: espada (gl) f
• Georgian: ხმალი (ka) (xmali), დაშნა (dašna), მახვილი (maxvili), ლახვარი (laxvari)
• German: Schwert (de) n

  Alemannic German: Schwärt n

• Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌿𐍃 m (hairus), 𐌼𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 m (mēkeis)
• Greek: ξίφος (el) n (xífos), σπαθί (el) n (spathí)

  Ancient: ξίφος n (xíphos), φάσγανον n (phásganon), μάχαιρα f (mákhaira) (short), ῥομφαία f (rhomphaía) (long and broad)

• Greenlandic: pana
• Guaraní: kysepuku
• Gujarati: તલવાર (gu) f (talvār), શમશેર f (śamśer)
• Hebrew: חֶרֶב‎ (he) f (ẖérev), סַיִף‎ (he) m (sáyif)
• Hindi: तलवार (hi) f (talvār), शमशेर (hi) f (śamśer)
• Hungarian: kard (hu)
• Icelandic: sverð (is) n
• Ido: espado (io)
• Indonesian: pedang (id)
• Interlingua: spada, gladio
• Irish: claíomh m

  Old Irish: claideb m

• Istriot: spada f
• Italian: spada (it) f, brando (it) m (poetic), stocco (it) m, gladio (it) m
• Japanese: 刀 (ja) (かたな, katana), 剣 (ja) (つるぎ, tsurugi; けん, ken)
• Kalmyk: селм (selm), үлд (üld)
• Kannada: ಕತ್ತಿ (kn) (katti)
• Karachay-Balkar: къылыч
• Karakalpak: qılısh
• Kashubian: miecz m
• Kazakh: қылыш (kk) (qılış)
• Khakas: хылыс (xılıs)
• Khmer: ដាវ (km) (daaw)
• Komi-Permyak: шыпурт (šypurt)
• Korean: 검 (ko) (geom) (劍 (ko)), 칼 (ko) (kal)
• Kumyk: къылыч
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: şimşûr (ku), şûr (ku)

  Sorani: شمشێر‎ (şimşêr), شێر‎ (şêr)

• Kyrgyz: кылыч (kılıç)
• Lao: ດາບ (lo) (dāp)
• Latgalian: zūbyns
• Latin: gladius (la) m, spatha f, ensis m, machaera f, ferrum (la) n

• Latvian: zobens m
• Ligurian: spâ f
• Limburgish: zwerd (li) n
• Lithuanian: kalavijas (lt) m, kardas (lt) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Sweerd n

• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: меч m (meč)
• Malagasy: antsifotsy (mg), sabatra (mg), viarara (mg)
• Malay: pedang m
• Malayalam: വാള് (ml) (vāḷŭ)
• Maltese: sejf m, xabla f
• Manx: cliwe m
• Maori: hoari
• Maranao: miros
• Mongolian: илд (mn) (ild), сэлэм (mn) (selem)
• Nahuatl: tepozmācuahuitl
• Navajo: diltłish
• Ngazidja Comorian: upanga class 11/10
• Nogai: кылыш (kılış)
• North Frisian: swird n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sverd (no) n

  Nynorsk: sverd n

• Occitan: espasa (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic: мечь m (mečĭ)
• Old East Slavic: мечь m (mečĭ)
• Old English: sweord n, bil n, mēċe m, secg m
• Old Norse: mækir m, sverð n
• Oriya: ଖଡ୍ଗ (khôḍgô)
• Ossetian: кард (kard)
• Pashto: توره‎ (ps) f (túra)
• Persian: شمشیر‎ (fa) (šamšir)
• Plautdietsch: Schwieet n
• Pohnpeian: kedlahs
• Polish: miecz (pl) m
• Portuguese: espada (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਤਲਵਾਰ (pa) (talvār)
• Quechua: sawli
• Romanian: sabie (ro) f, spadă (ro) f
• Romansch: spada f, speda f
• Russian: меч (ru) m (meč), шпа́га (ru) f (špága), са́бля (ru) f (sáblja)
• Samogitian: kalavėjs m
• Sanskrit: कृपाण (sa) (kṛpāṇa)
• Sardinian: spada f, ispada f
• Saterland Frisian: Swäid n
• Scottish Gaelic: claidheamh m, slòighre f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мач m

  Roman: mač (sh) m

• Shona: munondo
• Shor: қылыш (qılış)
• Sicilian: spata (scn) f
• Sinhalese: කඩුව (kaḍuva)
• Slovak: meč m
• Slovene: meč (sl) m, sablja (sl) f
• Somali: seef f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mjac m

  Upper Sorbian: mječ m

• Southern Altai: кылыш (kılış)
• Spanish: espada (es) f
• Swahili: upanga
• Swedish: svärd (sv) n
• Syriac, Classical: ܣܝܦܐ‎ m (sāyp̄ā)
• Tagalog: tabak
• Tajik: шамшер (tg) (šamšer)
• Tamil: வாள் (ta) (vāḷ)
• Tatar: кылыч (tt) (qılıç)
• Telugu: కత్తి (te) (katti), కృపాణము (te) (kr̥pāṇamu)
• Thai: ดาบ (th) (dàap)
• Tibetan: དཔའ་དམ། (dpa' dam)
• Tocharian B: apsāl, kertte
• Tok Pisin: bainat, bainet
• Tongan: heleta
• Turkish: kılıç (tr)
• Turkmen: gylyç
• Tuvan: хылыш (hılıš)
• Ukrainian: меч m (meč)
• Urdu: تلوار‎ f (talvār), شمشیر‎ f (šamšer)
• Uyghur: قىلىچ‎ (qilich), شەمشەر‎ (ug) (shemsher)
• Uzbek: qilich (uz), shamshir (uz)
• Venetian: spada f
• Veps: mek
• Vietnamese: gươm (vi), kiếm (vi)
• Volapük: gläv (vo), flamagläv, komipagläv, reigänagläv, boyadagläv
• Walloon: spêye (wa) f
• Waray-Waray: espada
• Welsh: cleddyf (cy) m
• West Frisian: swurd n
• Yakut: кылыс (kılıs)
• Yiddish: שווערד‎ f (shverd)
• Zazaki: şimşêr

one who handles a sword

• Catalan: espasa (ca) m, f
• Finnish: miekkamies
• French: épéiste (fr)
• Galician: espadachín m
• German: Schwertkämpfer

• Greek: ξιφοφόρος (el) m (xifofóros), ξιφομάχος (el) m (xifomáchos)
• Hungarian: (lit. sword-swinger) kardforgató
• Macedonian: мечувалец m (mečuvalec)
• Russian: мечено́сец (ru) m (mečenósec)

suit in tarot

• Finnish: miekat (fi) pl

card of this suit

• Finnish: miekka (fi)

• Greek: σπαθί (el) n (spathí), σπαθιά (el) pl (spathiá)

Anagrams

• words

---

Middle English

Alternative forms

• swerd, sord, sworde, zuord

Etymology

From Old English sword, a Mercian form of sweord (which some forms are directly from); from Proto-Germanic *swerdą.

Pronunciation

• (Early ME; from sweord) IPA^(key): /swœrd/
• (From sweord) IPA^(key): /swɛrd/
• IPA^(key): /swɔrd/, /sɔrd/

Noun

sword (plural swordes or sworden)

1. sword, sabre
2. (figuratively) Military might or power.

Descendants

• English: sword
• Scots: swerd, sword

References

• “sword (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-16.

---

Old English

Alternative forms

• sƿord

Etymology

from Proto-Germanic *swerdą,

Noun

sword n (nominative plural sword)

1. (Mercian) a sword