swot

See also: SWOT

English

Alternative forms

• swat

Etymology

From a dialectal English word, from Middle English swot, swat, from Old English swāt (“perspiration; sweat”), from Proto-Germanic swaitą (“sweat”). More at sweat.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /swɒt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /swɑt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /swɔt/

  • Audio (AU)

    (file)

• Homophone: swat
• Rhymes: -ɒt

Verb

swot (third-person singular simple present swots, present participle swotting, simple past and past participle swotted)

1. (intransitive, slang, Britain) To study with effort or determination (object of study indicated by "up on").

   Synonym: cram

   You should swot up on your French before travelling to Paris.

Derived terms

• swot up on
• swot vac

 

Translations

study hard

• Armenian: կրծել (hy) (krcel)
• Bulgarian: зубря (bg) (zubrja)
• Catalan: empollar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死記／死记 (zh) (sǐjì)

• Dutch: blokken (nl)
• Finnish: ahtaa päähänsä, päntätä (fi)
• French: bûcher (fr), bosser (fr), potasser (fr), bachoter (fr), se bourrer le crâne
• Galician: chapar
• German: büffeln (de), pauken (de)
• Hindi: रटना (hi) (raṭnā), रट्टा मारना m (raṭṭā mārnā)
• Hungarian: magol (hu), bemagol (hu), biflázik (hu)
• Irish: pulc
• Italian: sgobbare (it)
• Japanese: がり勉する (gariben suru)
• Portuguese: marrar (pt)
• Russian: зубри́ть (ru) impf (zubrítʹ), вы́зубрить (ru) pf (výzubritʹ)
• Spanish: empollar (es) (colloquial)
• Thai: ติว (dtiu)
• Turkish: ineklemek (tr), hatmetmek (tr), hafızlamak
• Welsh: adolygu (cy)

See also

• hit the books

Noun

swot (plural swots)

1. (slang, Britain) One who swots; a boffin, nerd, or smart aleck.
   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 23:

     He liked Tom all right... Sampson and Bullock he could do without, however. Especially Sampson, who was too much of a grammar-school-type swot ever to be quite the thing.

   • 2023 August 8, Janan Ganesh, “The oneness of Ron DeSantis and Rishi Sunak”, in Financial Times‎^[1]:

     On first listen, Americans of a certain vintage would call one a Poindexter, while older Brits would regard the other as a swot.

2. (slang, Britain) Work.
3. (slang, Britain) Vigorous study at an educational institution.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• swotty

Translations

one who swots

• Bulgarian: зубрач (bg) m (zubrač)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死記者／死记者 (sǐjìzhě)

• Dutch: blokker (nl) m
• French: (colloquial) bûcheur (fr) m, bosseur (fr) m, bachoteur (fr)
• Galician: chapón m
• German: Büffler m
• Japanese: 我利勉, がり勉 (gariben)
• Korean: 공부벌레 (gongbubeolle)
• Manx: ard-studeyr m
• Polish: kujon (pl) m
• Portuguese: marrão (pt) m (Portugal)
• Russian: зубри́ла (ru) m or f (zubríla)
• Spanish: empollón m, empollona (es) f (Spain, derogatory), chapón m, chapona f (Spain, derogatory), mateo (es) m (Chile, colloquial)
• Swedish: plugghäst (sv) (derogatory)

work

• French: boulot (fr) m, (slang) tapin (fr) m
• Russian: вка́лывание n (vkályvanije) (colloquial)

vigorous study

• Bulgarian: зубрене n (zubrene)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死記／死记 (zh) (sǐjì)

• Dutch: blok (nl) m
• French: (slang) bachot (fr) m, bachotage (fr)
• German: Büffeln (de) n, Pauken (de) n
• Japanese: がり勉 (gariben)
• Russian: зубрёжка (ru) f (zubrjóžka)

Anagrams

• OTWs, Stow, TOWs, Tows, ow'st, stow, tows, twos, wost, wots

Saterland Frisian

Alternative forms

• swoot

Etymology

From Old Frisian swart, from Proto-West Germanic *swart. Cognates include German schwarz and West Frisian swart.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /svɔt/
• Hyphenation: swot
• Rhymes: -ɔt

Adjective

swot (masculine swotten, feminine, plural or definite swotte, comparative swotter, superlative swotst)

1. black

References

• Marron C. Fort (2015), “swot”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN