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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

swift.

Fast; quick; rapid.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/swɪft/

  1. Fast; quick; rapid.

    swift action
    swift response

  2. Capable of moving at high speeds.

  3. Quick-thinking; bright.

    informal
Where this word comes from

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

adv/swɪft/

  1. Swiftly.

    obsolete · poetic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

noun/swɪft/

  1. A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight.

  2. Any of certain lizards of the genus Sceloporus.

  3. A moth of the family Hepialidae, swift moth, ghost moth.

  4. Any of various fast-flying hesperiid butterflies.

  5. A light, collapsible reel used to hold a hank of yarn in order to wind off skeins or balls.

  6. The main cylinder of a carding-machine.

  7. The current of a stream.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.