*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of swink

From Middle English swink, from Old English swinc (“toil, work, effort; hardship; the produce of labour”).

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

Toil, work, drudgery.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English swink, from Old English swinc (“toil, work, effort; hardship; the produce of labour”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentionswinkenm
  • Inherited-form mentionswincang
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "swink"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English swink"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "swinc",
        "4": "",
        "5": "toil, work, effort; hardship; the produce of labour"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English swinc (“toil, work, effort; hardship; the produce of labour”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "swink",
      "swink#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "swinc",
      "swinc#Old_English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Toil, work, drudgery."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "recordId": "a4657b7f9350294e6fcd98b8a9df4ffd0e38acb08c524a86bf7bc9c70757d7ac",
      "rawRecordSha256": "20184da9c13df5d11bacb5935d77ba637f337854052c498f917652072060bf74",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 473602
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
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    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
verb

To labour, to work hard · To cause to toil or drudge; to tire or exhaust with labor.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English swynken, from Old English swincan (“to labour, work”), from Proto-Germanic *swinkaną (“to swing, bend”). Cognate with Old Norse svinka (“to work”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "swynken"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English swynken"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "swincan",
        "t": "to labour, work"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English swincan (“to labour, work”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*swinkaną",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to swing, bend"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *swinkaną (“to swing, bend”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "svinka",
        "3": "",
        "4": "to work"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse svinka (“to work”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "swynken",
      "swynken#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "swincan",
      "swincan#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "*swinkaną",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/swinkaną"
    ],
    [
      "svinka",
      "svinka#Old_Norse"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To labour, to work hard",
        "To cause to toil or drudge; to tire or exhaust with labor."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "recordId": "4764729ad511fd2160979bf3c3663313f0842c6da120fb8c8d2455b9ad7517f1",
      "rawRecordSha256": "02f1b7df934fb69c0d9b016741d47c70c39b9a2360d1ff01d9ffb361335d4604",
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  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
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    "links": 0,
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    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for swink →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-c3dpbms