swart
/swɔː(ɹ)t/
"swart" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“swart” is uncommon English (frequency #79,105 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,105
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of a dark hue; moderately black; swarthy; tawny.
Corpus desk
Index EN-swart · swart · English
swart · rank #79,105 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #79,105
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH swale
Nearest frequency peer: swale (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “swart”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- superficial…
superficiality
20,901 corpus weight
- Surtees
Surtees
20,898 corpus weight
- swale
swale
20,897 corpus weight
- swart
swart
20,896 corpus weight
- swordplay
swordplay
20,895 corpus weight
- Tacloban
Tacloban
20,891 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “swart” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | swart |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /swɔː(ɹ)t/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #79,105 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “swart” in English
Rare enough to double-check
swart is uncommon English at frequency #79,105 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /swɔː(ɹ)t/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
swart has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swart, from Old English sweart, from Proto-West Germanic *swart, from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swerd-. Doublet of Schwarz. The correct English form is swart, spelled S-W-A-R-T.
Definition
- 1Of a dark hue; moderately black; swarthy; tawny.
- 2Black.
- 3Gloomy; malignant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how swart appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1400s: Thomas Occleve, Hymns to the Virgin Men schalle then sone se / Att mydday hytt shalle swarte be
A nation strange, with visage swart
Etymology
From Middle English swart, from Old English sweart, from Proto-West Germanic *swart, from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swerd-. Doublet of Schwarz.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "swart", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).