switch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /swɪtʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from a Flemish or Low German word,^[2][3][4] such as Hanoverian dialect swutsche, a variant of Low German swukse (“long thin stick”).^[2][4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged suggests Middle Dutch swijch “bough, twig”.^[6][3] Etymonline traces it to a Germanic *swih-, also the source of German Zweck “aim”, originally “peg”, and perhaps related to sway and swing.^[3] Early forms include swits and switz.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A slender tapering riding whip: 1592, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.^[2][7][6] It was used especially in the phrase switch and spurs, at great speed.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

A thin flexible shoot cut from a tree is from 1610,^[7] about 1600 in Etymonline.^[3] The verb, to strike or whip with a switch, is from about 1611, in Chapman's translation of the Iliad.^[2][7] A device on a railway for moving trains from one track to another is from 1797,^[7][2][3] first on horse-drawn railways, and a lever for making or breaking an electric circuit from 1865.^[7] Etymonline cites Weekley that “the peg sense suits the mechanical applications”, and suggests these senses may have been borrowed again from continental Germanic.^[3] The railway verb, to turn a train onto another track, is from 1853 in American English,^[2][3] which led to turning a device on or off, of electrical currents by 1881.^[3] The general sense “to shift, divert” is from 1860,^[2][3] and “to change one thing for another” from 1919.^[3] The noun meaning a change or exchange is from 1920, at first slang,^[3] and switcheroo from 1933.^[3] A long bunch of hair is from 1870.^[3][4] In Yorkshire dialect to switch was also to make drunk.^[8]

Timeline

• 1592 – a riding whip.^[2][7]
• 1610 – a thin shoot.^[7]
• c. 1611 – verb, to whip.^[2][7]
• 1797 – a railway switch.^[7][2]
• 1853 – verb, to shunt a train.^[2][3]
• 1860 – to shift, divert.^[2][3]
• 1865 – an electrical switch.^[7]
• 1870 – a bunch of hair.^[3]
• 1919 – to exchange.^[3]
• 1920 – noun, a change.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device for opening or closing an electric circuit.
2. A device on a railway for moving trains from one track to another.
3. A change or shift, especially a sudden one.
4. A slender flexible rod or twig, especially one used for whipping.
5. A thick strand of real or false hair worn as part of a hairstyle.
6. The bushy tip of the tail of certain animals.

Verb

1. To turn on or off, or connect, with a switch.
2. To shift, transfer or divert.
3. To exchange: switched seats.
4. To whip with or as if with a switch.
5. To move or swish sharply: a cow switching its tail.
6. To move (a train) from one track to another.

Word family

• switchable
• switcher
• bait-and-switch
• microswitch
• switchback
• switchblade
• switchboard

Related words

• switcheroo
• sway
• swing

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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)