Swayed

How to spell swayed

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce swayed

What does swayed mean?

1. verbMoved or swung slowly from side to side.
2. verbInfluenced or persuaded someone toward a particular opinion or decision.

Swayed in a sentence

• The tall pines swayed gently in the evening wind.

• The lawyer's closing argument swayed several members of the jury.

• The crowded train swayed as it rounded the bend.

• A last-minute discount swayed him toward the more expensive model.

Where does swayed come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The verb sway comes from Middle English swayen, meaning to move or swing from side to side, and is closely linked to related words in the Scandinavian languages, such as Old Norse sveigja, meaning to bend or yield, and to similar forms in Low German and Dutch. The original sense was strongly physical: a branch or a body that bends and swings under wind or movement. From that literal motion the word grew a figurative sense, the idea of being moved or turned in one's opinion, so that an argument could sway a person much as a breeze sways a tree. English speakers had both meanings well established by the 1500s. The past form simply adds the regular -ed ending to sway, and because the base ends in a vowel sound the spelling keeps the full sway before the suffix, giving swayed rather than any doubled or altered letter.

How the word is built

• sway (to move side to side, or to influence)
• -ed (past tense suffix)

Words that sound like swayed

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• suede: Leather with a soft, napped finish produced by buffing the underside of a hide.