swarm

B1 Topic:Animals

US /swɔɹm/ UK /swɔːm/ See IPA manual

Freq #14671

Meanings

1

noun
A large group of insects, especially bees, flying close together.

A swarm of bees settled in the old apple tree.
2

noun
A large, moving crowd of people, animals, or things.

A swarm of reporters waited outside the courtroom.
3

verb
To move somewhere in a large crowd.

Fans swarmed onto the field after the final whistle.
4

verb
To be full of moving people, animals, or insects.

The garden was swarming with bees.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a large group of insects,... cloud

4 verb · to be full of moving... teem

Word family

Forms swarmedswarmingswarms

Derived forms aswarm

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

meteor swarm
a group of meteoroids traveling along similar paths

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”). The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swirman (“to swarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarmijan, from Proto…

swarm Middle English swearm Old English *swarm Proto-West Germanic *swarmaz Proto-Germanic *swer- Proto-Indo-European swarmen Middle English swirman Old English *swarmijan Proto-West Germanic *swarmijaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# swarm

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /swɔɹm/
**IPA (UK):** /swɔːm/
**Frequency rank:** 14671

## Meanings
1. A large group of insects, especially bees, flying close together.
2. A large, moving crowd of people, animals, or things.
3. To move somewhere in a large crowd.
4. To be full of moving people, animals, or insects.

## Examples
- A swarm of bees settled in the old apple tree.
- A swarm of reporters waited outside the courtroom.
- Fans swarmed onto the field after the final whistle.
- The garden was swarming with bees.

## Derived Forms
- aswarm

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: swarm
- Root: swearm
- Root: *swarm
- Root: *swarmaz
- Root: *swer-
- Root: swarmen
- Root: swirman
- Root: *swarmijan
- Root: *swarmijaną

## Etymology
From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”). The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swirman (“to swarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarmijan, from Proto…

## AI Etymology
Swarm is from Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).

## Topics
- Animals

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