swarthy

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈswɔɹði/ See IPA manual

Freq #46410

Meanings

1

adj
Dark-skinned; black.

Their swarthy Hosts wou'd darken all our Plains, / Doubling the native Horror of the War, / And making Death more grim.
2

adj
Darker-skinned than white, but lighter-skinned than tawny; tan.

The Number of purely white People in the World is proportionably very small. All Africa is black or tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the new Comers) wholly so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English, make the principal Body of White People.
3

adj
Weathered, rough.

Mason: "Okay, how do I look, really?" Betty: "…'Swarthy.'" Mason: "Well, is that good?" Betty: "Depends if you like 'swarthy.'" Mason: "Do you like 'swarthy'?" Betty: "Not particularly.".
4

noun
A swarthy person.

Finally I saw all our Italian women and my mother, torn in pieces, cut up, massacred by the monsters who contended for them ; the captives, my companions, the Moors who had taken us, the soldiers, the sailors, the blacks, the whites, the swarthies, the mulattoes, and lastly, my captain himself, were all slain.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · dark-skinned; black. black dusky sable sooty

Opposites

fair pale

Etymology

Alteration of obsolete swarty, from swart + -y, from Old English sweart (“black”).

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives Register & Style

External links

# swarthy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈswɔɹði/
**Frequency rank:** 46410

## Meanings
1. Dark-skinned; black.
2. Darker-skinned than white, but lighter-skinned than tawny; tan.
3. Weathered, rough.
4. A swarthy person.

## Examples
- Their swarthy Hosts wou'd darken all our Plains, / Doubling the native Horror of the War, / And making Death more grim.
- The Number of purely white People in the World is proportionably very small. All Africa is black or tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the new Comers) wholly so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English, make the principal Body of White People.
- Mason: "Okay, how do I look, really?" Betty: "…'Swarthy.'" Mason: "Well, is that good?" Betty: "Depends if you like 'swarthy.'" Mason: "Do you like 'swarthy'?" Betty: "Not particularly.".
- Finally I saw all our Italian women and my mother, torn in pieces, cut up, massacred by the monsters who contended for them ; the captives, my companions, the Moors who had taken us, the soldiers, the sailors, the blacks, the whites, the swarthies, the mulattoes, and lastly, my captain himself, were all slain.

## Antonyms
- fair
- pale

## Etymology
Alteration of obsolete swarty, from swart + -y, from Old English sweart (“black”).

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- Register & Style

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