Swap

How to spell swap

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce swap

What does swap mean?

1. verbTo exchange one thing for another.
2. nounAn act of exchanging one thing for another.

Swap in a sentence

• verb

  The two colleagues agreed to swap shifts for the weekend.

• noun

  The clothing swap raised money for the local charity.

• verb

  I would happily swap my window seat for an aisle.

• noun

  They arranged a house swap for the summer holiday.

Where does swap come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Swap began in Middle English as 'swappen', a word that meant to strike or to hit hard, and it was almost certainly imitative, echoing the sharp sound of a blow. Its modern meaning of 'to exchange' grew out of a vivid old custom: people would strike or slap their hands together to seal a bargain, so 'to swap' came to describe the deal itself rather than the slap. By the sixteenth century the trading sense was well established in English, especially in talk of horse dealing. The earlier 'strike' sense has long since faded, leaving only the idea of a fair exchange. The spelling is refreshingly straightforward, four letters with no silent traps, which is why it survives unchanged across British, American, and Canadian usage.

How the word is built

• swap (single root, of imitative origin; no prefix or suffix)