Swift

How to spell swift

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce swift

What does swift mean?

1. adjectiveHappening quickly or moving at great speed.
2. nounA small fast-flying bird with long narrow wings, similar in appearance to a swallow.

Swift in a sentence

• adjective

  The bank promised a swift response to the complaint.

• noun

  A swift darted under the eaves to reach its nest.

• adjective

  Her swift reply settled the matter before lunch.

• noun

  Every summer a swift returns to the church tower to breed.

Where does swift come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Swift comes straight from the Old English adjective swift, meaning 'moving quickly' or 'rapid', a thoroughly native Germanic word with no foreign borrowing involved. It is connected to the Old English verb swifan, which meant 'to move in a course' or 'to sweep along', so the underlying idea is of something gliding or sweeping forward at speed. The same family lies behind 'swoop' and the dialect word 'swivel', all sharing the sense of a smooth turning or sweeping motion. From the bird's habit of sweeping rapidly through the air, the name swift was given to the small fast-flying bird from at least the seventeenth century. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years, which is why it offers no hidden trap; what you hear is what you write.

How the word is built

• swift (whole word; native root from Old English swift 'moving quickly')