Meanings
nounswordplay (usually uncountable, plural swordplays)
plural swordplays
- uncountableusuallyfighting with a sword
His expertise at swordplay made his acting in the part of Hamlet very believable.
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishsweordplega
- Englishswordplay
Inherited from Old English sweordplega. By surface analysis, sword + play.
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ξιφισμός
- ξιφισμός (xiphismós)fighting with a sword
Bulgarian фехто́вка
- фехто́вка (fehtóvka)fighting with a sword
Chinese Mandarin 劍術 /剑术
- 劍術 /剑术 (jiànshù)fighting with a sword
Danish sværdkamp
- sværdkampfighting with a sword
Finnish miekkailu
- miekkailufighting with a sword
French escrime, combat à l'épée
- escrimefighting with a sword
- combat à l'épéefighting with a sword
German Schwertkampf, Fechten
- Schwertkampffighting with a sword
- Fechtenfighting with a sword
Japanese 剣術, フェンシング
- 剣術 (kenjutsu)fighting with a sword
- フェンシング (fenshingu)fighting with a sword
Norwegian Bokmål sverdkamp
- sverdkampfighting with a sword
Persian شمشیرزنی
- شمشیرزنی (šamširzani)fighting with a sword
Polish szermierka
- szermierkafighting with a sword
Russian фехтова́ние
- фехтова́ние (fextovánije)fighting with a sword
Spanish esgrima
- esgrimafighting with a sword
Swedish svärdkamp
- svärdkampfighting with a sword
Tamil வாள்வீச்சு
- வாள்வீச்சு (vāḷvīccu)fighting with a sword
Cite this entry
APA
swordplay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swordplay
MLA
“swordplay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swordplay. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “swordplay,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swordplay.
Source: swordplay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.