Swag

How to spell swag

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce swag

What does swag mean?

1. nounFree promotional merchandise and gifts given away to advertise a brand or event.
2. nounGoods taken by a thief; stolen property or booty.
3. nounA decorative drape of fabric, flowers, or greenery hung in a loose curve.

Swag in a sentence

• The conference handed every attendee a bag of branded swag.

• The burglars stuffed the swag into a holdall and fled.

• A velvet swag framed the top of each window in the dining room.

• The startup spent a fortune on logo swag like pens and water bottles.

• Police recovered most of the stolen swag from a lock-up garage.

• She hung a swag of ivy above the mantelpiece for the party.

Where does swag come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Swag began life as a verb around the 14th century meaning to move unsteadily, to sway, or to sag under weight, and it is generally traced to a Scandinavian source related to Old Norse words for swaying and rocking; the same root family gave English the everyday words 'sway' and 'sag'. From the idea of something hanging heavily, the noun came to mean a bundle slung over the shoulder, which is how Australian and bush English settled on 'swag' for a traveller's rolled-up bedding and possessions. In 18th-century thieves' cant the word took a darker turn and meant stolen goods or booty, the loot a burglar carried off. Decorators borrowed it for a draped festoon of fabric or flowers that hangs in a loose curve, echoing the original sense of sagging weight. Most recently it has become casual slang, first for confident style and then for the free promotional merchandise handed out at events. The plain four-letter spelling has stayed remarkably stable across all these meanings.

How the word is built

• swag (single root of Scandinavian origin meaning to sway or lurch; no prefix or suffix)