swatch

Etymology

The word is of unknown origin.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} It began as a Scots and northern English word,^[5][8][9] first recorded in Northumberland.^[6][7] The Shorter Oxford compares swadge,^[9] the Century Dictionary compared swath,^[10][7] and Dictionary.com takes it as akin to switch.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The counterfoil or countercheck of a tally: the OED's first record is from the household regulations of the Earl of Northumberland, dated about 1527,^[2] which the 1989 edition of the OED and Barnhart date to 1512.^[12][6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the tally sense to about 1527.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Yorkshire the word was used for a wooden tally fixed to a piece of cloth before it went into the dye-kettle with others;^[2][6][7] part of the wood was cut out and given to the owner, who recognized his dyed cloth when the piece fitted the gap.^[13] From the tag attached to the cloth, the word passed in the mid-17th century to a sample piece of the cloth itself,^[2][6][7][9] and then to samples of other materials.^[2] The figurative sense, a sample or specimen of anything, is recorded from 1697.^[2][6] In Scotland it also came to mean a remnant, a shred or a patch, and as a verb, to match something to a pattern.^[13] A swatch-book, a bound collection of samples, is attested by 1901.^[7][2] The tally sense is now obsolete,^[2][9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged labels it chiefly dialectal.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1527 – the counterfoil of a tally; in Yorkshire, a tally tied to cloth sent to the dyer (obsolete).^[2][4] Barnhart and the 1989 edition of the OED date it to 1512.^[6][12]
• 1647 – a sample piece of cloth.^[2][6][7]
• 1697 – figurative, a sample or specimen of anything.^[2][6]
• 1901 – swatch-book, a collection of samples.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small piece of fabric or other material cut off as a sample: She pinned three swatches of linen to the board.^[8][4][2]
2. A set of such samples, usually bound together in a book.^[8][4][2]
3. A typical example or specimen of something: a swatch of his early prose.^[4][2]
4. A patch or area: swatches of grey in his beard.^[4][2]
5. (printing) A small sample of colour given to a printer for matching, or a smear of ink spread on paper to check a colour.^[8]
6. (obsolete) The counterfoil of a tally; a tally attached to cloth sent to be dyed.^[2][9][4]

Related words

• swath
• swash

Usage notes

The OED lists two other nouns spelled swatch.^[2] One, a row of cut corn or grass, recorded from 1577 in Tusser, is apparently an irregular variant of swath;^[2][9] Johnson (1755) gave it as "a swathe", not in use.^[14] The other, recorded from 1626 and used chiefly in the eastern counties of England, is a channel of water between sandbanks or between a sandbank and the shore, also swatchway;^[2][9][13] its origin is unknown,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes it as perhaps an alteration of swash.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b 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 s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Whitney, William Dwight, ed. (1889–1891), The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, New York: The Century Co. (1901 printing)
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.