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swan

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swan¹

  • /swɒn/ UK
  • /swɑn/ US

Rhymes with -ɒn

Where it comes from

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, Danish svane, Norwegian svane, Swedish svan. Related also to Old English ġeswin (“melody, song”), Old English swinsian (“to make melody”).

Further cognates include (possibly) Russian звон (zvon, “ring, chime”); Latin sonus (“sound”), Sanskrit स्वन् (svan, “sound”).

Doublet of sound.

noun swans · 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. This bird used as a heraldic charge, sometimes with a crown around its neck (e. g. the arms of Buckinghamshire).

verb swans · swanning · swanned

  1. intransitive To travel or move about in an aimless, idle, or pretentiously casual way. 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.

swan²

  • /swɒn/ UK
  • /swɑn/ US

Rhymes with -ɒn

Where it comes from

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

verb swans · swanning · swanned · swanny

  1. US, colloquial, dialectal To declare (chiefly in first-person present constructions). "Well, I swan, man, I had a better opinion of you than that."

Swan³

Where it comes from

From swan, the bird.

* (surname): An English nickname from the swan bird.

noun Swans · Swann

  1. someone connected with the Sydney Swans, as a fan, player, coach, etc.

proper noun Swans · Swann

  1. countable, uncountable A surname transferred from the nickname. CNN reported on Friday that Trump first mentioned the document in a March interview with the New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan for their book Regime Change, an account of the first 14 months of Trump’s second term, which is to be published next week.
  2. countable, uncountable A township and unincorporated community therein, in Noble County, Indiana.
  3. countable, uncountable A minor city in Marion County, Iowa.
  4. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community and township in Taney County, Missouri, named after Swan Creek.
  5. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Smith County, Texas.
  6. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in the town of Frankfort, Marathon County, Wisconsin.
  7. countable, uncountable Other townships, in Illinois, Nebraska and Ohio, listed under Swan Township.
  8. countable, uncountable A local government area in Perth, Western Australia; in full, the City of Swan.

Swan⁴

Where it comes from

Clipping of Swansea.

noun Swans

  1. someone connected with Swansea City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach, etc. The Swans will doubtless recover, but they will head home this evening knowing that they didn't do themselves justice in a game that means so much to supporters.

SWAN⁵

noun

  1. abbreviation, acronym, uncountable Acronym of syndrome without a name

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: rove, stray, range, drift, ramble, cast, vagabond, wander, roam, swear, assert, affirm, avow, aver, tundra, trumpeter

Translations

Every language

noun waterfowl of the genus Cygnus

Españolcisne
한국어고니 goni, 백조 baekjo
日本語鵠 kugui, 白鳥 hakuchō, ハクチョウ hakuchō
中文鵠 /鹄 hú, 天鵝 /天鹅 tiān'é
हिन्दीहंस hans
Kiswahilibata-maji
Portuguêscisne
Françaiscygne, cygne mâle, cygne femelle, cygneau, cygnet, jeune cygne
DeutschSchwan, Schwänin
Italianocigno
Ελληνικάκύκνος kýknos
Românălebădă
Русскийле́бедь lébedʹ
Tiếng Việtthiên nga
العربيةتَمّ tamm, قُقْنُس quqnus, إِوَزّ عِرَاقِيّ ʔiwazz ʕirāqiyy
עבריתברבור barbúr

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MLA

"swan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/swan. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

swan. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/swan

Chicago

"swan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/swan.

BibTeX
@misc{swan_2026,
  title = {swan},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/swan},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}