sweet
[ sweet ]
/ swit /
adjective, sweet·er, sweet·est.
adverb
in a sweet manner; sweetly.
noun
Idioms for sweet
sweet on, Informal.
infatuated with; in love with: He's sweet on her.
Origin of sweet
before 900; (adj. and adv.) Middle English
swet(
e), Old English
swēte (adj.); (noun) Middle English
swet(
e), derivative of the adj.; cognate with Old Saxon
swōti, Old High German
swuozi (German
süss); akin to Dutch
zoet, Old Norse
sætr, Gothic
suts, Greek
hēdýs sweet, Latin
suādēre to recommend,
suāvis pleasant
SYNONYMS FOR sweet
historical usage of sweet
It is not very often that a modern English word comes as close to its Proto-Indo-European original as, say, Latin or Greek does, but
sweet is one of them.
The Proto-Indo-European root is swād- “sweet”; the adjective from that root is swādús, which becomes Sanskrit svādús, then Greek hēdýs and hādýs (with the usual simplification of initial sw- to h- ). The extended form swādwis becomes the Latin adjective suāvis “agreeable to the taste” (not necessarily sweet), “fragrant; pleasing to the eyes, the feelings, the mind,” and the verb suādēre “to recommend, make something pleasant.” The root swād- regularly becomes swōt- in Germanic, and the adjective from that root is swōtjaz. The j causes umlaut of the ō, becoming œ or ē and yielding the Old English adjective swœte and swēte, Middle English swet(e), swet, and English sweet.
Very early on, sweet was applied more generally to things that are pleasing or agreeable to bodily senses other than taste buds. In the 14th century, you might say someone was sweet in (the) bed to mean that they were good in bed. From the mid-1500s, sweet-love (now obsolete) was a term of affection for a beloved person. By the late 1500s, you could call someone sweet-tongued, and by the 1900s, whisper sweet nothings to someone.
The Proto-Indo-European root is swād- “sweet”; the adjective from that root is swādús, which becomes Sanskrit svādús, then Greek hēdýs and hādýs (with the usual simplification of initial sw- to h- ). The extended form swādwis becomes the Latin adjective suāvis “agreeable to the taste” (not necessarily sweet), “fragrant; pleasing to the eyes, the feelings, the mind,” and the verb suādēre “to recommend, make something pleasant.” The root swād- regularly becomes swōt- in Germanic, and the adjective from that root is swōtjaz. The j causes umlaut of the ō, becoming œ or ē and yielding the Old English adjective swœte and swēte, Middle English swet(e), swet, and English sweet.
Very early on, sweet was applied more generally to things that are pleasing or agreeable to bodily senses other than taste buds. In the 14th century, you might say someone was sweet in (the) bed to mean that they were good in bed. From the mid-1500s, sweet-love (now obsolete) was a term of affection for a beloved person. By the late 1500s, you could call someone sweet-tongued, and by the 1900s, whisper sweet nothings to someone.
OTHER WORDS FROM sweet
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH sweet
suite sweetWords nearby sweet
sweeps,
sweepstake,
sweepstakes,
sweepy,
sweer,
sweet,
sweet almond,
sweet almond oil,
sweet alyssum,
sweet basil,
sweet bay
Example sentences from the Web for sweetly
British Dictionary definitions for sweetly (1 of 2)
Sweet
noun
Henry. 1845–1912, English philologist; a pioneer of modern phonetics. His books include A History of English Sounds (1874)
British Dictionary definitions for sweetly (2 of 2)
sweet
/ (swiːt) /
adjective
adverb
informal
in a sweet manner
noun
Derived forms of sweet
sweetish, adjective sweetly, adverb sweetness, nounWord Origin for sweet
Old English
swēte; related to Old Saxon
swōti, Old High German
suozi, Old Norse
sœtr, Latin
suādus persuasive,
suāvis sweet, Greek
hēdus, Sanskrit
svādu; see
persuade,
suave
Idioms and Phrases with sweetly
sweet