swing

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity
  2. noun mechanical device used as a plaything to support someone swinging back and forth
  3. noun a sweeping blow or stroke

Etymology

From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

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