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PlainSpell

sway

/ˈsweɪ̯/noun, verb

sway is spelled S-W-A-Y: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sway means “The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sway is sways.

How many letters and syllables are in sway?

Letters4: S-W-A-Y
Syllables1
In writing4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sway?

Sway appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th 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 sway?

  • US /ˈsweɪ̯/
  • /ˈswe̞(ː)/
  • Australia /ˈswæ̝ɪ̯/

Sway has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sway.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with sway?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sway from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ways, yaws.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of sway

  • sways plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • swaying participle, present
  • swayed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sway mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.

  2. 2

    A rocking or swinging motion.

    The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.

  3. 3

    Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side

    I doubt I'll hold much sway with someone so powerful.

  4. 4

    Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.

  5. 5

    Rule; dominion; control; power.

  6. 6

    A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.

  7. 7

    The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

  8. 8

    Synonym of sweet flag (“Acorus calamus”)

verb

  1. 1

    To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

    sway to the music

  2. 2

    To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.

    to sway the sceptre

  3. 3

    To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

    Do you think you can sway their decision?

  4. 4

    To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; to warp.

    reeds swayed by the wind

  5. 5

    To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

    to sway up the yards

  6. 6

    To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.

  7. 7

    To have weight or influence.

  8. 8

    To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sway in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbalancement, oscillation (the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing…), basculement (a rocking or swinging motion), autorité (influence, weight, or authority that inclines…), balancer (to move or swing from side to side; or backward…), influencer (to influence or direct by power and authority)
GermanSchwingen, Schwenken (the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing…), Hin- und Herschwingen, Mitschwingen (a rocking or swinging motion), Einfluss, Beeinflussung (influence, weight, or authority that inclines…)
Spanishbalanceo (the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing…), influencia, influjo, preponderancia, poderío (influence, weight, or authority that inclines…), balancear (to move or swing from side to side; or backward…)
Portuguesebalançar (to move or swing from side to side; or backward…)

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 sway come from?

From earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old English *swǣġan (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-West Germanic *swaigijan, from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- See also Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”); also Lithuanian svai̇̃gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬱𐬑𐬎𐬀𐬑𐬙𐬀 (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit स्वजते (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”). The noun derived from the verb.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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