sword
/soɹd/noun, verb
sword is spelled S-W-O-R-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sword means “A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sword is swords.
How many letters and syllables are in sword?
| Letters | 5: S-W-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 23 times per million words; the 3,814th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sword?
Sword appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th 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 sword?
- US /soɹd/
- UK /sɔːd/
- British /soːd/
Sword 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-sword.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sword
Also written: s-word (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with sword?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sword from its last stressed vowel (/oɹd/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: words.
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 sword
- swords plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- swording participle, present
- sworded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sword mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack.
He took out his sword and stabbed the man in the stomach.
- 2
A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
- 3
A card of this suit.
- 4
One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.
- 5
Violence; military might.
verb
- 1
To stab or cut with a sword
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sword in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | épée, glaive , épéiste |
| German | Schwert, Schwärt , Schwertkämpfer, Schwertkämpferin |
| Portuguese | espada, gládio , espadachim |
| Spanish | espada, tizona , espadachín |
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 sword come from?
Inherited from West Midland Middle English sword (swerd in most dialects), from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).