Where does “swanky” come from?

Swanky comes from Middle English swank through the suffix -y, which derives from Middle French -ie, from Latin -ia, ultimately tracing back through Latin -ivus and Proto-Indo-European -kos.

swanky (English): Rather posh, elegant, ritzy; Alternative form of...

Definitions

  1. Rather posh, elegant, ritzy; Alternative form of...

Ancestry of “swanky”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “swanky”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →Every word from English -y →Every word from Old English -iġ →