Meanings
plural Swissers · alternative Swizzer
- obsoleteA native of Switzerland; a Swiss.First known use 16th–18th c.
Where is my Swissers, let them guard the doore.
1604, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, IV.53 more examples
Being impossible to conclude and accord any agreement betweene the Pope and the King of France, the Swissers came to serue the Pope, of whose valour and power the French stood much in feare.
1601, ‘WT’, translating Lord Remy of Florence, Civill considerations vpon many and svndrie histories, p. 111A Spaniard can not well brooke to feede after our fashion, nor we endure to drinke as the Swizzers.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, III.13The Austrian Princes and the Swissers, I have still heard, are from father to sonne, hereditary and irreconcilable enimies.
1624, “Vox Cœli, or News from Heaven”, in Somer's Tracts, volume II, London, published 1809
Origin
- FrenchSuisse
- Middle High GermanSwycer
- EnglishSwisser
From Middle High German Swycer, Schwyczer, variants of Sweitzer (“Switzer”); or from French Suisse + -er.
More words from Middle High German, French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Swisser. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Swisser
“Swisser.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Swisser. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Swisser,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Swisser.
Source: Swisser on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.