swain
/sweɪn/noun
swain is spelled S-W-A-I-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, swain means “A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of swain is swains.
How many letters and syllables are in swain?
| Letters | 5: S-W-A-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words; the 28,918th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is swain?
Swain appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce swain?
- /sweɪn/
Swain has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-swain.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of swain
- swains plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does swain mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA young man or boy in service; a servant.
- 2
obsoleteA knight's servant; an attendant.
- 3
archaicA country labourer; a countryman, a rustic.
- 4
A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting.
You're the belle of the ball, and these are all your swains, hoping for a glimpse of ankle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Swain in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense young man or boy, young shepherd, young attendant:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | zagal |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does swain come from?
From Middle English swayn, swain, sweyn, swein, from Old English sweġen (attested also as personal name Swein, Sweġen), from Old Norse sveinn, from Proto-Germanic *swainaz (“relative, young man, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“oneself; separate; apart”), thus properly one's own.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).