Etymology

swift

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Today it means: Fast; quick; rapid. Full definition →

Middle English swift ← Old English swift ← Proto-Germanic *swiftaz
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swift · adjective, adverb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)weyp-“to twist; wind around”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swiftaz“swift; quick”
  3. Old English · inherited fromswift“swift; quick”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromswift
  5. English todayswift

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

Swift · proper noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ksweybʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kswéybʰ-e-ti
  3. Proto-Germanic*swībaną
  4. Old Englishswīfan
  5. Old Englishswift
  6. Middle Englishswift
  7. Englishswift
  8. English todaySwift

Derived from swift, from Middle English swift, from Old English swift, from swīfan, from Proto-Germanic *swībaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kswéybʰ-e-ti, from *ksweybʰ-.

SWIFT · proper noun, noun3

Abbreviation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.