swank

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

swank^¹

/ˈswæŋk/
[ˈswæŋk]
/ˈsweɪ̯ŋk/ Canada, US
[ˈsweɪ̯ŋk] ~ /ˈswɛ̃ŋk/ Canada, US
[ˈswɛ̃ŋk] Canada, US

Rhymes with -æŋk

Where it comes from

From dialectal swank (“to strut, behave ostentatiously”), perhaps from an unrecorded Old English root, derived from Proto-Germanic *swankijaną (“to cause to sway, swing”) or from Proto-Germanic *swankaz (“lithe, bendsome, slender”), related to the Scots swank and the Middle High German swanken, modern German schwanken (“to sway”).

adjective swanker · swankest

Fashionably elegant, posh. The fish house or shack is built without windows, covered with tar paper to keep out the light and wind, and set on the ice over about ten feet of water in a spot off shore where fish have been known to habitate habitually. […] A couple of boxes to sit on and a plank or mat for your feet and a small

noun swanks

countable, uncountable A fashionably elegant person. Us Morans don't like swanks, and that girl was a swank. Stuck-up rich girl. She wore a practically new gabardine with the same paper Union Jack flag as me, only hers was tucked into her coat buttonhole, behind a gold cat pasted with jewels.
countable, uncountable Ostentation; bravado. 'It is mere swank sending it to us,' said he. 'We have to be there whatever happens, as the hangman said to the murderer.'

verb swanks · swanking · swanked

To swagger, to show off. Looks like she's going to swank in, flashing her diamonds, then swank out to another party.
Similar: flex, ostentate, strut, aura farm, boulevardier, cut a wide swath, cut it fat, cut round, exhibitionize, figure away, flamboast, flaunt

Swank^²

proper noun Swanks

A surname.

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{swank_2026,
  title = {swank},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/swank},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}