sway

Pronunciation

• /ˈsweɪ̯/^[1]
• US: /ˈswe̞(ː)/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sweien (“to move, go quickly”), also sweȝen,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, swing, give way”),^{[4][5][3][2][6][7]} compare Old Danish svegja.^[5][2] The Old Norse verb is from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną.^[1] The modern sense, to swing to and fro, agrees with Middle Low German swājen (“to be moved hither and thither by the wind”), the source of svaja and svaie, and with Dutch zwaaien (“to swing, wave, walk totteringly”).^{[8][9][10][11][12]} The OED therefore takes modern sway, recorded from about 1500, as a borrowing of the Middle Low German verb that merged with the older Middle English verb meaning to go or move; that verb may have been native, of the type of Old English wegan (“to move, carry, weigh”), since the Norse verb fits its form but not its sense.^[8] Merriam-Webster likewise sees an older verb meaning to fall or swoon, altered under the influence of the Low German word,^[13] Weekley kept the Middle English verb apart,^[11] and Hoad calls the history obscure.^[9] Etymonline thinks an unrecorded Old English cognate may have merged with the Norse word, and that the group may be related to swag and swing.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move, go, glide: about 1300, as swien or sweiȝen;^[3][5] the Middle English Dictionary's first quotation, from the South English Legendary (before 1325), has a star moving softly forward.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb meant to go or move, to go down or fall, and to sink into a swoon, senses that died out by the 16th century.^[8][2][10] The modern sense, to move first to one side and then to the other, appears about 1500, but Barnhart notes that it was not common until the 19th century;^[8][3] the transitive use, to make something swing, follows in 1555,^[8][5] to vacillate in 1563,^[8][3] and to lean or swerve under weight in 1577.^[8] The figurative "to incline, prejudice" is from the 1590s.^[5] The noun, a rotating or sweeping motion, appears in Chaucer (about 1374),^[8] although Barnhart finds a noun sweize, motion, as early as about 1175.^[3] Its meaning "controlling influence" is recorded before 1510, in Gavin Douglas,^[8][3] and "rule, dominion" from 1586, with to bear sway from 1549.^[8] Weekley explained the sense of rule from the Dutch phrase for wielding a sceptre, den rijkstaf zwaaien,^[11] and the Century Dictionary, cited by Etymonline, from the sway of the sceptre or the sword.^[5] Johnson (1755) listed first the swing or sweep of a weapon, quoting Milton.^[14] Sway-backed, of horses with a sagging back, is recorded from 1690.^[3] In Derbyshire and Leicestershire dialect sway meant to feel giddy or faint.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – swien, to go, glide, move.^[3][5]
• c. 1374 – noun, the motion of a rotating body (obsolete by 1616); sweeping motion, impetus.^[8]
• c. 1400 – to go down, fall, swoon (obsolete by 1540).^[8][2]
• c. 1500 – to swing from side to side.^[8][3]
• before 1510 – noun, controlling influence.^[8][3]
• 1549 – to bear sway, to rule.^[8]
• 1555 – transitive, to make something swing.^[8]
• 1563 – to vacillate.^[8][3]
• 1577 – to lean or swerve, as under weight.^[8]
• 1586 – noun, rule, dominion.^[8]
• 1690 – sway-backed.^[3]
• 1846 – noun, a backward and forward movement.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To swing slowly and rhythmically from side to side, or to make something do so: The palms swayed in the evening breeze.^[7][13][8]
2. To lean or incline to one side, or in different directions in turn.^[7][8]
3. To waver or vacillate between opinions.^[7][8]
4. To influence someone, or change their opinion or course: His speech swayed the undecided voters.^[7][13]

Noun

1. A swaying movement from side to side.^[13][8]
2. Controlling influence or power: under the sway of a charismatic leader.^[13][8][10]
3. Rule or dominion, especially in hold sway or bear sway.^[8][10]
4. (obsolete, 1374–1616) A rotating motion about an axis.^[13][8]

Word family

• swayer
• swayingly
• swayable
• swayback
• unswayed
• unswaying
• anti-sway bar
• sway bar

Related words

• swag
• swing
• swagger

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ 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)