swamp – English noun declension

English noun forms of swamp

Noun: swamp
Singularswamp
Pluralswamps

Sample Sentences

  • Some small Marshes and Swamps there are, but more profitable than hurtfull. [1624, John Smith, Virginia IV., page 163]
  • The vast swamps of Southern Ontario proved a grim nightmare to the construction gangs. Treacherous and seemingly bottomless, the swamps swallowed thousands of tons of timber and debris, yet still afforded no firm surface on which the track could be laid. [1954 February, Trevor Holloway, “Canada's Transcontinental Routes”, in Railway Magazine, page 128:]
  • We two...in this swamp of iniquity...together we can bring redress to an unjust world. [2017, Cassandra Clark, Alchemist of Netley Abbey:]
  • On InfoWars, Alex Jones told his audience, "This is over the top sickening. Next they'll say Jeffrey Epstein never even existed. This is the swamp winning. No one is buying this." [2025 July 10, Jesus Mesa, “'We've Been Played': MAGA Faces Its Own Disappointment With Trump”, in Newsweek:]

Etymology

1. Early attestations (starting in 1624) are from North America, but the term was probably in local use in Britain earlier. The etymology is not entirely certain; it is probably a fusion of Middle English swam (“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh”, also “fungus, mushroom”) — from Old English swamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), from Proto-West Germanic *swamm, from Proto-Germanic *swambaz, *swammaz — and Middle English sompe (“marsh, morass”), from either Middle Dutch somp, sump (“marsh, swamp”) or Middle Low German sump (“marsh, swamp”) (from Old Saxon *sump (“swamp, marsh”)), both from Proto-West Germanic *sump, from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. *Swambaz, *swammaz and *sumpaz are likely related to each other, but it is unclear whether they are of Indo-European origin or are substrate words or wanderworts.
2. The word has alternatively been suggested to be a borrowing from Dutch zwamp (“swamp, marsh, fen”). Other cognates include Middle Low German swamp (“sponge, mushroom”), Dutch zomp (“swamp, lake, marshy place”), German Low German Sump (“swamp, bog, marsh”), German Sumpf (“swamp”), Swedish sump (“swamp”). Related also to Dutch zwam (“fungus, punk, tinder”), German Schwamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Swedish svamp (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Icelandic svampur, sveppur (“fungus”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌿𐌼𐍃𐌻 (swumsl, “a ditch”). Related to sump, swim. See: Old English Nouns 'swamm', Middle English Nouns 'sompe', Dutch Nouns 'zwamp', Dutch Nouns 'zomp', German Nouns 'Sumpf', Swedish Nouns 'sump', Dutch Nouns 'zwam', German Nouns 'Schwamm', Swedish Nouns 'svamp', Icelandic Nouns 'svampur', Gothic Nouns '𐍃𐍅𐌿𐌼𐍃𐌻'.

Verbs referencing "swamp"

Latin Nouns fungus, German Nouns Sumpf, Dutch Nouns zwamp.