entry
swap
/swɑp/Exchange one thing for another
From Middle English, with a possibly Old English Germanic background swap (to strike).
from Old English swipian (“to scourge, strike, beat, lash”), Old Norse svipa (“to swoop, flash, whip, look after, look...
from Old English *swappian, a secondary form of Old English swāpan (“to swoop”). Cognate with German schwappen (“to...
from Middle English swappen (“to swap”), originally meaning "to hurl" or "to strike", the word alludes to striking...
from Middle English swappen (“to swap”), originally meaning "to hurl" or "to strike", the word alludes to striking...
Word Ancestry
from Old English swipian (“to scourge, strike, beat, lash”), Old Norse svipa (“to swoop, flash, whip, look after, look...
from Old English *swappian, a secondary form of Old English swāpan (“to swoop”). Cognate with German schwappen (“to...
from Middle English swappen (“to swap”), originally meaning "to hurl" or "to strike", the word alludes to striking...
from Middle English swappen (“to swap”), originally meaning "to hurl" or "to strike", the word alludes to striking...
Before swap meant trading baseball cards or houses, it was a little physical: Middle English swappen could mean “to strike” or “to hurl.” The exchange sense may have grown from the old ritual of striking or slapping hands to seal a bargain—the medieval equivalent of saying, “Done.” But the ancestry is foggy: some evidence points toward Old English *swappian, “to swoop,” while German schwappen, “to slosh,” suggests a broader family of vivid Germanic sound-and-motion words. By the 1590s, the word had completed its curious journey from blow to bargain, turning a smack of the hands into a trade. So every time you say “Let’s swap,” you may be echoing an ancient handshake whose verbal ancestry began with something hitting something else.
The Story
Before swap meant trading baseball cards or houses, it was a little physical: Middle English swappen could mean “to strike” or “to hurl.” The exchange sense may have grown from the old ritual of striking or slapping hands to seal a bargain—the medieval equivalent of saying, “Done.” But the ancestry is foggy: some evidence points toward Old English *swappian, “to swoop,” while German schwappen, “to slosh,” suggests a broader family of vivid Germanic sound-and-motion words. By the 1590s, the word had completed its curious journey from blow to bargain, turning a smack of the hands into a trade. So every time you say “Let’s swap,” you may be echoing an ancient handshake whose verbal ancestry began with something hitting something else.
Modern Usage
In some usage, exchanging sexual partners
Notable References
- swap meet
Kin & Kindred
From 'swap'·to strike, swoop, or exchange
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary