Sworn

How to spell sworn

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce sworn

What does sworn mean?

1. adjectiveBound, declared, or confirmed by an oath; established as such with solemn commitment.
2. verbPast participle of swear: to have promised solemnly or affirmed under oath.

Sworn in a sentence

• adjective

  The two families had been sworn enemies for generations.

• verb

  She had sworn to keep the agreement confidential.

• adjective

  The detective took a sworn statement from each witness.

• verb

  Every juror has sworn an oath before the trial begins.

Where does sworn come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past participle of the verb 'swear', which descends from the Old English swerian, meaning 'to take an oath' or 'to make a solemn promise'. That verb has deep Germanic roots and is related to words across the family, including the Old Norse sverja and the Dutch zweren, all carrying the idea of binding oneself by a formal declaration. The early sense was strictly legal and religious: to swear was to call on a higher power as witness to one's word. The same root also gave English 'answer', literally 'to swear against' a charge in the sense of replying under oath. The form 'sworn' has kept the older strong-verb ending in -n, the same pattern seen in 'broken' and 'spoken', and the spelling has stayed stable for centuries because the w is genuinely pronounced.

How the word is built

• swor- (past-participle stem of swear, from Old English swerian: to take an oath)
• -n (past-participle ending)