swing

B2 Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /ˈswɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Freq #2735

Meanings

1

verb
To move back and forth or in a curve from a fixed point.

The monkey swung from branch to branch.
2

verb
To move your arm in a wide curve to hit or aim at something.

He swung at the ball but missed.
3

noun
A swinging blow or stroke made with the arm.

He took a wild swing at the punching bag.
4

verb
To change suddenly between high and low levels or moods.

Her moods swing from joy to despair within minutes.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms swangswingingswingsswung

Derived forms check-swingmis-swingneo-swingoverswingswing-backswing-swangswing-wingswingle

From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

swyngen Middle English swingan Old English *swingan Proto-West Germanic *swinganą Proto-Germanic *swenk- Proto-Indo-European

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Topics

Space, Position & Direction Describing Qualities

External links

# swing

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈswɪŋ/
**Frequency rank:** 2735

## Meanings
1. To move back and forth or in a curve from a fixed point.
2. To move your arm in a wide curve to hit or aim at something.
3. A swinging blow or stroke made with the arm.
4. To change suddenly between high and low levels or moods.

## Examples
- The monkey swung from branch to branch.
- He swung at the ball but missed.
- He took a wild swing at the punching bag.
- Her moods swing from joy to despair within minutes.

## Derived Forms
- check-swing
- mis-swing
- neo-swing
- overswing
- swing-back
- swing-swang
- swing-wing
- swingle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: swyngen
- Root: swingan
- Root: *swingan
- Root: *swinganą
- Root: *swenk-

## Etymology
From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

## AI Etymology
Swing is from Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink. In present-day use, it can mean to move back and forth or in a curve from a fixed point, or to move your arm in a wide curve to hit or aim at something.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction
- Describing Qualities

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