different between change vs sway

English

Etymology

From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambi?re, from Latin camb?re, present active infinitive of cambi? (“exchange, barter”), from Gaulish cambion, *kambyom (“change”), from Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)?ambos, *(s)kambos (“crooked”).

Cognate with Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Romanian schimba, Spanish cambiar. Used in English since the 13th century. Displaced native Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan (“to turn, change”) (whence English wend).

The noun is from Middle English change, chaunge, from Old French change, from the verb changier. See also exchange. Possibly related from the same source is Old English gombe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ch?nj, IPA^(key): /t?e?nd?/
• Rhymes: -e?nd?

Verb

change (third-person singular simple present changes, present participle changing, simple past and past participle changed)

1. (intransitive) To become something different.

2. (transitive, ergative) To make something into something else.

3. (transitive) To replace.

4. (intransitive) To replace one's clothing.

5. (transitive) To replace the clothing of (the one wearing it).

6. (intransitive) To transfer to another vehicle (train, bus, etc.)
7. (archaic) To exchange.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2

     At the first sight / they have changed eyes. (exchanged looks)

   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):

     I would give any thing to change a word or two with this person.

8. (transitive) To change hand while riding (a horse).

   to change a horse

Synonyms

• (to make something different): alter, modify, make another
• (to make something into something different): transform

Derived terms

Related terms

• exchange

Translations

Noun

change (countable and uncountable, plural changes)

1. (countable, uncountable) The process of becoming different.

2. (uncountable) Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination.

3. (countable) A replacement.
5. (uncountable) Balance of money returned from the sum paid after deducting the price of a purchase.

6. (uncountable) Usually coins (as opposed to paper money), but sometimes inclusive of paper money

7. (countable) A transfer between vehicles.
8. (baseball) A change-up pitch.
9. (campanology) Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.
   • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

     Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.

10. (dated) A place where merchants and others meet to transact business; an exchange.
11. (Scotland, dated) A public house; an alehouse.
    • 1727-1728, Edward Burt, Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his Friend in London

      They call an alehouse a change.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "change": big, small, major, minor, dramatic, drastic, rapid, slow, gradual, radical, evolutionary, revolutionary, abrupt, sudden, unexpected, incremental, social, economic, organizational, technological, personal, cultural, political, technical, environmental, institutional, educational, genetic, physical, chemical, industrial, geological, global, local, good, bad, positive, negative, significant, important, structural, strategic, tactical.

Synonyms

• (the process of becoming different): transition, transformation

Related terms

• (transfer): interchange
• exact change

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• modification
• mutation
• evolution
• reorganization

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “change”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

French

Etymology

Deverbal from changer (corresponding to Old French change). Compare Medieval and Late Latin cambium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????/

Noun

change m (plural changes)

1. exchange

Derived terms

• bureau de change
• gagner au change
• lettre de change

Verb

change

1. first-person singular present indicative of changer
2. third-person singular present indicative of changer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of changer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of changer
5. second-person singular imperative of changer

Related terms

• changer
• changeur

Further reading

• “change” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Norman

Alternative forms

• chànge (Guernsey)

Etymology

Borrowed from French change and English change.

Noun

change m (plural changes)

1. (Jersey) change
2. (Jersey, money) exchange rate

Old French

Alternative forms

• cange (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Deverbal of changier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??an.d???/

Noun

change m (oblique plural changes, nominative singular changes, nominative plural change)

1. change (difference between one state and another)
2. exchange

Descendants

• ? Middle English: change
  • English: change
• French: change

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws