sweat

sweat · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*swoyd-“to sweat”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swait-
3. Old English · inherited fromswāt
4. Middle English · inherited fromswete
5. English todaysweat

From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish sved, Norwegian Bokmål svette, Norwegian Nynorsk sveitte, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Portuguese suor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.

sweat · verb²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swaitijaną“to sweat”
2. Old English · inherited fromswǣtan
3. Middle English · inherited fromsweten
4. English todaysweat

From Middle English sweten, from Old English swǣtan, from Proto-Germanic *swaitijaną (“to sweat”). Compare Dutch zweten, German schwitzen, Danish svede. Doublet of shvitz.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 20th c. To worry about (something).