swain

\sweɪn\

/\sweɪn\/ noun

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

The verdict

“swain” is uncommon French (frequency #81,608 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,608
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Servant, serviteur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-swain · swain · French

swain · rank #81,608 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,608
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH surpassés

Nearest frequency peer: surpassés (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « swain »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « swain » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for swain
PropertyValue
Headwordswain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sweɪn\
Letters5
Frequency rank#81,608
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « swain » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.swaintombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « surpassés » (#81,607), « symétries » (#81,609), « surgissement » (#81,606). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « swain » est au #81,608. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

swain is uncommon French at frequency #81,608 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \sweɪn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for swain, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is swain, spelled S-W-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Servant, serviteur.
  2. 2
    Garçon, jeune gars.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how swain appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. MISS SOMEDAY. Poor Charley wooed, but wooed in vain, From Monday until Sunday; Still Cupid whisper'd to the swain "You'll conquer Betsey Someday."

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "swain"?
"swain" is spelled S-W-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \sweɪn\.
What does "swain" mean?
As a noun, "swain" means: Servant, serviteur.
How do you pronounce "swain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "swain" is \sweɪn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "swain" come from?
"swain" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "swain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

synth#81,611Talma#81,617Tamar#81,618tapia#81,620

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list