swike

English

Etymology

From Middle English swiken, from Old English swīcan (“to wander, depart, cease from, yield, give way, fail, fall short, be wanting, abandon, desert, turn traitor, deceive, rebel”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīkwan, from Proto-Germanic *swīkwaną, *swīkaną (“to dodge, swerve, avoid, betray”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyg- (“to turn, move around, wander, swing”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swaɪk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪk

Verb

swike (third-person singular simple present swikes, present participle swiking, simple past swoke, past participle swicken)

1. (transitive, dialectal or obsolete) To deceive, cheat; betray.
2. (transitive, dialectal or obsolete) To stop, cease.

Adjective

swike (comparative more swike, superlative most swike)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Deceitful; treacherous.

Noun

swike (plural swikes)

1. (dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Deceit; treachery.
2. (dialectal or obsolete) A deceiver; betrayer, traitor.
   • 1848, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Harold, the Last of the Saxons:

     The Saxon Chronicle contradicts itself as to Algar's outlawry, stating in one passage that he was outlawed without any kind of guilt, and in another that he was outlawed as swike, or traitor, and that he made a confession of it before all the men there gathered.

3. (dialectal or obsolete) A hiding place; den; cave.

Anagrams

• Weiks, Wikes, kwise, wikes

Indonesian

swike in fermented soybean sauce (tauco) soup

Etymology

From Hokkien 水雞／水鸡 (súi-ke, “frog”, literally “water; river + fowl; chicken”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈswike]
• Hyphenation: swi‧ké

Noun

swiké (first-person possessive swikeku, second-person possessive swikemu, third-person possessive swikenya)

1. (cooking) swikee, a frog leg cuisine.

Further reading

• “swike” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.