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swift

/swɪft/adjective, noun

swift is spelled S-W-I-F-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, swift means “Fast; quick; rapid” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in swift?

Letters5: S-W-I-F-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing14 times per million words; the 5,595th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 swift?

Swift appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th 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 swift?

  • /swɪft/

Swift 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: En-us-swift.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of swift

  • swifter comparative
  • swiftest superlative
  • more swift comparative
  • most swift superlative
  • swifts plural

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

What does swift mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Fast; quick; rapid.

    swift action

  2. 2

    Capable of moving at high speeds.

  3. 3

    informalQuick-thinking; bright.

noun

  1. 1

    A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight.

  2. 2

    Any of certain lizards of the genus Sceloporus.

  3. 3

    A moth of the family Hepialidae, swift moth, ghost moth.

  4. 4

    Any of various fast-flying hesperiid butterflies.

  5. 5

    A light, collapsible reel used to hold a hank of yarn in order to wind off skeins or balls.

  6. 6

    The main cylinder of a carding-machine.

  7. 7

    obsoleteThe current of a stream.

noun

as SWIFT
  1. 1

    Acronym of Structured What If Technique.

  2. 2

    Acronym of Stored Waveform Inverse Fourier Transform.

  3. 3

    Acronym of Stratospheric Wind Interferometer For Transport Studies.

adverb

  1. 1

    obsoleteSwiftly.

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

Swift in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrapide, vif, vive (fast; quick; rapid), martinet (bird), dévidoir (reel)
Germanflink, rasch (fast; quick; rapid), Segler (bird), Garnwinde (reel)
Portugueserápido, ligeiro, veloz (fast; quick; rapid), gaivão, andorinhão, aião (bird)
Spanishrápido, veloz, célere, pronto, raudo, ligero (fast; quick; rapid)

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 swift come from?

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

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

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