sweat

/swɛt/

//swɛt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sweat" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sweat” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,739 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#5,739
frequency rank, English
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the cir...

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sweat vs swot
60% similar
sweat vs sweet
80% similar
sweat vs swift
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sweat
PropertyValue
Headwordsweat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/swɛt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,739
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sweat” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). sweat lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for sweat is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /swɛt/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,739 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sweat, with forms such as "sewat", "ssweat", and "swaet". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "swot", "sweet", "swift", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish s… The correct English form is sweat, spelled S-W-E-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the circulation.
  2. 2
    The state of one who is sweating; diaphoresis.
  3. 3
    Hard work; toil.
  4. 4
    Moisture issuing from any substance.
  5. 5
    A short run by a racehorse as a form of exercise.
  6. 6
    The sweating sickness.
  7. 7
    A soldier (especially one who is old or experienced).
  8. 8
    An extremely or excessively competitive player.

Etymology

From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish sved, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.

Synonyms

sudor

This word in other languages

sudor(Español)sueur(Français)Schweiß(Deutsch)suor(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: sewat,ssweat,swaet,sweatt,sweta,swweat,wseat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sweat - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

sewat2ssweat1swaet2sweatt1sweta2swweat1wseat2
Edit distance from "sweat"

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

How do you spell "sweat"?
"sweat" is spelled S-W-E-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /swɛt/.
What does "sweat" mean?
As a noun, "sweat" means: Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the cir...
What words are commonly confused with "sweat"?
"sweat" is commonly confused with "swot", "sweet", "swift". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sweat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sweat" is /swɛt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sweat"?
From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “sweat”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-W-E-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /swɛt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “swot” - see the side-by-side comparison. sweat vs swot
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list