Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “swallow” come from?

Swallow comes from Middle English swalowe, from Old English swelgan, from Proto-Germanic swelganą, from Proto-Indo-European swelk-, ultimately from the root swel-.

swallow (English): To cause to pass from the mouth into the...

Definitions

  1. To cause to pass from the mouth into the...

Ancestry of “swallow”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishswalweA swallow or a swift; The meat of such birds
2Old Englishswealweswallow
3Proto-West Germanic*swalwā—
4Proto-Germanicswalwǭswallow

Words derived from “swallow”

  • swallowtail
  • swallower
  • swalloweth
  • swallowtailed
  • swallowable
  • swallowest
  • swallowwort
  • unswallowable
  • reswallow
  • midswallow
  • unswallow
  • swallowability
  • woodswallow
  • swallowfish
  • swallie
  • swallow-wort
Every word from Proto-Germanic swalwǭ →