sweat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The salty liquid that comes out of your skin when you are hot, ill, or nervous.

   Sweat poured off his brow as he ran the last mile.

2. 2
   verb

   To produce sweat through your skin.

   Exercise makes you sweat.

3. 3
   noun

   A state of worry or nervousness.

   Just thinking about the interview tomorrow puts me in a nervous sweat.

From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish sved, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.

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