# swank

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈswæŋk/ · frequency rank #43,946

## Definitions
1. Fashionably elegant, posh.

## Etymology
From dialectal swank (“to strut, behave ostentatiously”), perhaps from an unrecorded Old English root, derived from Proto-Germanic *swankijaną (“to cause to sway, swing”) or from Proto-Germanic *swankaz (“lithe, bendsome, slender”), related to the Scots swank and the Middle High German swanken, modern German schwanken (“to sway”).

## Easily confused with
- **swap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swap)
- **sway** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-sway)
- **SWAT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swat)
- **swing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swing)
- **swung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swung)
- **swine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swine)
- **swarm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swarm)
- **Swann** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swann)
- **swath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swath)
- **swanky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swank-vs-swanky)
- **san** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/san-vs-swank)
- **sand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sand-vs-swank)
- **sean** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sean-vs-swank)
- **sink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sink-vs-swank)
- **sang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sang-vs-swank)
- **scan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scan-vs-swank)
- **span** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-swank)
- **stan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stan-vs-swank)
- **sack** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sack-vs-swank)
- **swan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swan-vs-swank)

## Common misspellings (8)
`sawnk`, `sswank`, `swakn`, `swankk`, `swannk`, `swnak`, `swwank`, `wsank`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/swank