different between sigh vs swear

English

Etymology

From Middle English sihen, from Old English s?can. (The OE infinitive would have given ME forms with /t?/ or /k/, which are both attested, so the /h/ form is probably a back-formation from the preterite sihte.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

Verb

sigh (third-person singular simple present sighs, present participle sighing, simple past and past participle sighed)

1. (intransitive) To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.

   • He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
   • 1695, Matthew Prior, An ode presented to the king, on His Majesty's arrival in Holland, after the Queen's death

     Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

4. (intransitive) To experience an emotion associated with sighing.

5. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year

     The winter winds are wearily sighing.

6. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
7. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
   • 1763, John Hoole (translator), Jerusalem Delivered (by Torquato Tasso

     The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

Synonyms

• (all): sithe (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

sigh (plural sighs)

1. A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
   • 1913, Eleanor Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter 7:

     To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.

2. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lament.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person who is bored.

Derived terms

• yawn-sigh

Translations

Interjection

sigh

1. An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.

   Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.

Translations

Anagrams

• Gish, gish

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sw??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sw??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English sweren, swerien, from Old English swerian (“to swear, take an oath of office”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjan? (“to speak, swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”).

Cognate with West Frisian swarre (“to swear”), Saterland Frisian swera (“to swear”), Dutch zweren (“to swear, vow”), Low German swören (“to swear”), sweren, German schwören (“to swear”), Danish sværge, Swedish svära (“to swear”), Icelandic sverja (“to swear”), Russian ????? (svara, “quarrel”). Also cognate to Albanian var (“to hang, consider, to depend from”) through Proto-Indo-European.

The original sense in all Germanic languages is “to take an oath”. The sense “to use bad language” developed in Middle English and is based on the Christian prohibition against swearing in general (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) and invoking God’s name in particular (i.e. frequent swearing was considered similar to the use of obscene words).

Verb

swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past swore or (archaic) sware, past participle sworn or yswore)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To take an oath, to promise.

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To use offensive, profane, or obscene language.

Usage notes

• In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:swear word
• See also Thesaurus:swear

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From the above verb, or from Middle English sware, from Old English swaru, from Proto-Germanic *swar?.

Noun

swear (plural swears)

1. A swear word.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá

     You might think it funny to hear this Kanaka girl come out with a big swear. No such thing. There was no swearing in her — no, nor anger; she was beyond anger, and meant the word simple and serious.

Etymology 3

From Middle English swere, swer, swar, from Old English sw?r, sw?r (“heavy, heavy as a burden, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sw?r, from Proto-Germanic *sw?raz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).

Cognate with West Frisian swier (“heavy”), Dutch zwaar (“heavy, hard, difficult”), German schwer (“heavy, hard, difficult”), Swedish svår (“heavy, hard, severe”), Latin s?rius (“earnest, grave, solemn, serious”) and Albanian varrë (“wound, plague”).

Alternative forms

• sweer, sweir, swere

Adjective

swear (comparative swearer or more swear, superlative swearest or most swear)

1. (Britain dialectal) Heavy.
2. (Britain dialectal) Top-heavy; too high.
3. (Britain dialectal) Dull; heavy; lazy; slow; reluctant; unwilling.
4. (Britain dialectal) Niggardly.
5. (Britain dialectal) A lazy time; a short rest during working hours (especially field labour); a siesta.

Derived terms

Verb

swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past and past participle sweared)

1. (Britain dialectal) To be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.

References

• swear at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• resaw, sawer, sware, wares, wears