sweer

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English swer, sware, from Old English swǣr, swār (“heavy, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, great, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-Germanic *swēraz, *swērijaz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swēr- (“heavy”). Cognate with West Frisian swier (“heavy, burdensome, onerous, pregnant”), Dutch zwaar (“heavy, hard, difficult”), German schwer (“difficult, hard, heavy”), Swedish svår (“hard, severe, difficult, heavy”), Latin sērius (“earnest, serious”), Lithuanian svarus (“heavy”), Albanian var (“to hang, burden, annoy”), Ancient Greek ἕρμα (hérma, “prop, foundation, reef, hill”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /swɪə/

Adjective

sweer (comparative more sweer, superlative most sweer)

  1. (Britain dialectal) Heavy.
  2. (Britain dialectal) Dull; indolent; lazy.
  3. (Britain dialectal) Reluctant; unwilling; disinclined.

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch zweren, from Middle Dutch sweren, from Old Dutch *swerien, sweren, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *swer-.

Verb

sweer (present sweer, present participle swerende, past participle gesweer)

  1. to swear

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *sweur, *swēr, from Proto-Germanic *swehuraz, from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱuros.

Noun

swêer m

  1. male in-law
  2. father-in-law

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

  • “sweer”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • “sweer (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Scots

Alternative forms

Etymology

Old English swǣr. Cognate with West Frisian swier, Dutch zwaar, German schwer, Swedish svår.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /swir/

Adjective

sweer (comparative mair sweer, superlative maist sweer)

  1. reluctant, unwilling
  2. sad, depressed
  3. lazy
  4. depressing

Quotations

  • 2000, The flouer's bonniness minded him o cantier times but the rose itsel wis mingin wi sweir connotations. But n Ben A-Go-Go p.6
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.