swastika

Etymology

It is borrowed from Sanskrit स्वस्तिक (svastika, “a sign of good luck”),^{[2][3][4][5][1]} from स्वस्ति (svasti, “well-being, fortune, luck”).^[2][3][4][6] Most dictionaries analyse svasti as सु- (su-, “good, well”) and अस्ति (asti, “is”), the third person of the verb "to be",^{[4][5][7][8][1]} so that the symbol was named for the good luck it was believed to bring.^[7][5][8] The revised OED instead derives svasti from su- and the root "to be" with a suffix forming abstract nouns, and holds that the reading "good" + "is", found in the interjection svasti "good luck", is secondary and unlikely to underlie the word.^[2] Svastika adds the derivative suffix -क (-ka).^[2][1] Etymonline traces su- to Proto-Indo-European *(e)su- (“good”), a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *es- (“to be”), the root of asti as well,^[4][3] and Klein compares Ancient Greek ἐστί (estí, “is”) and Latin est (“is”).^[8] Dictionary.com relates su- to the Greek prefix eu-.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cross with equal arms, each bent at a right angle in the same direction: 1823, in the Oriental Magazine, according to the OED, revised in 2023.^[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster give 1871,^[5][4][7] and Dictionary.com 1850–55.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In English the word first named an ancient religious and decorative symbol,^[2][4] which Weekley called prehistoric, perhaps even palaeolithic;^[10] according to Wiktionary it replaced the Greek-based term gammadion.^[1] Etymonline lists other names for it, gammadion, cross cramponnee in heraldry, Thor's hammer and perhaps fylfot, though the OED doubts that fylfot ever meant this.^[4][2] In the 20th century the word came to mean above all the emblem of the German Nazi Party, with its arms bent clockwise: the OED's first record of this use is from 1922, in the European edition of the New York Herald,^[2] while Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1932.^[5][4] Collins notes that the symbol was officially adopted as the emblem of Nazi Germany in 1935.^[11] From 1933 the word also named the Nazi flag, a black swastika in a white circle on a red ground,^[2][12] and it is now used for the emblems of neo-Nazi and other far-right groups too.^[2]

Timeline

• 1823 – an ancient symbol in the form of a cross with bent arms.^[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1871.^[5][4][7]
• 1922 – the emblem of the German Nazi Party.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date this use to 1932.^[5][4]
• 1933 – the Nazi flag bearing the emblem.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ancient symbol in the form of a Greek cross whose arms are each bent at a right angle in the same direction, used as a religious or decorative sign.^[2][11][7]
2. This symbol with its arms bent clockwise, used as the emblem of the German Nazi Party and later of neo-Nazi and other far-right groups.^[2][11][12]
3. A flag bearing the Nazi emblem.^[2][12]

Word family

• swastikaed

Related words

• is
• eu-

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also records the spellings svastika and swastica.^[7] The Shorter Oxford notes an older pronunciation with the vowel of bath in the first syllable.^[12] In German the usual word for the Nazi emblem is Hakenkreuz, literally "hook-cross".^[2][4] German Swastika is rare and used mainly of the symbol in archaeology and ethnography.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press