swathe

UK/sweɪð/US/swɑð/

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — swaddle sits at #14,290leans written

Other forms: swathes

A swathe is a broad strip cut or covered across something. A swathe of countryside.

It began as the width a scythe cuts in one sweep, which is exactly the image. To cut a swathe through something means going through it destructively and fast.

Definitions of swathe

1nounswatheA broad strip cut or covered across something.C1
“A swathe of the moor was burned in one afternoon.”

swathe is a strip.

Where it comes from

Old English swaethu, a track or trace; a swathe was the strip a mower cut at one pass.

Old English
swaþu
Middle English
swathe
English, today
swathe

Built from

swæþ · Old English — bandage
sweþel · Old English — a swathe, wrap, band, bandage

From Middle English swathe, swath, from Old English swaþu, swæþ (“bandage”), probably akin to Old English swaþul, sweþel (“a swathe, wrap, band, bandage”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

swathe in the wild

A large swathe of district is within the Severn tidal flood plain.
Stroud District
The fertile swathe of land stretching from Barmouth to Harlech was historically used as pasture.
Ardudwy
The abundance of water produces an unexpected swathe of green amidst the barren plains and is known as the "Oasis of the Kalahari".
Kuruman
The movement describes itself as representing a broad swathe of civil society.
Plataforma Nunca Máis
The word fascia derives from Latin fascia meaning "band, bandage, ribbon, swathe".
Fascia (architecture)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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