zwaaien

Dutch

Etymology

16th century. Predominantly considered an alteration of waaien (“to wave, blow”) after certain words for swinging motions with initial zw-. Specifically perhaps a merger of waaien with zwenken (“to sway, swing”). Another theory derives it from rare Middle Dutch swaden, swayen (“to scythe, swing a scythe”), which is cognate with English swath. Relation with Old Norse sveigja, whence probably English sway, is unlikely as it would require a highly irregular phonetic development in Dutch.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈzʋaːi̯.ə(n)/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: zwaai‧en
Rhymes: -aːi̯ən

Verb

zwaaien

(intransitive, transitive) to sway, to wave
(transitive) to brandish

Inflection

Conjugation of zwaaien (weak)
infinitive	zwaaien
past singular	zwaaide
past participle	gezwaaid
infinitive	zwaaien
gerund	zwaaien n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	zwaai	zwaaide
2nd person sing. (jij)	zwaait, zwaai²	zwaaide
2nd person sing. (u)	zwaait	zwaaide
2nd person sing. (gij)	zwaait	zwaaide
3rd person singular	zwaait	zwaaide
plural	zwaaien	zwaaiden

subjunctive sing.¹	zwaaie	zwaaide
subjunctive plur.¹	zwaaien	zwaaiden

imperative sing.	zwaai
imperative plur.¹	zwaait

participles	zwaaiend	gezwaaid
¹⁾ Archaic. ²⁾ In case of inversion.

Derived terms