Swede
/swiːd/noun
A person from Sweden, or a root vegetable of the cabbage family.
Did you know?The word ultimately comes from the ethnonym of the Svear, the ancient people of Sweden; the vegetable sense is a later, separate shortening of “Swedish turnip.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*Sweoniz
“the people of the Swedes”
Old Norse
ON
Svíar
“the Swedes, the people of Sweden”
Old English
OE
Swēon
“the Swedes”
Middle English
ME
Swede
“a Swede; later also a Swedish turnip”
Modern English
English
Swede
“a person from Sweden; also the root vegetable rutabaga”