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• Swede
  Swede

  noun

  a native or inhabitant of Sweden.
• swede
  swede

  noun

  a Eurasian plant, Brassica napus (or B. napobrassica ), cultivated for its bulbous edible root, which is used as a vegetable and as cattle fodder: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

Swede

American  

[sweed] / swid /

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Sweden.

2. (lowercase) a rutabaga.

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swede ¹ British  

/ swiːd /

noun

1. a Eurasian plant, Brassica napus (or B. napobrassica ), cultivated for its bulbous edible root, which is used as a vegetable and as cattle fodder: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

2. the root of this plant

3. a slang word for head

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Swede ² British  

/ swiːd /

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of Sweden

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Etymology

Origin of Swede

1580–90; < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German; cognate with German Schwede; compare Old English Swēon (plural), Old Norse Svēar, Svīar, Medieval Latin Suiōnes

Example Sentences

When Wallenberg was growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, Swedes weren’t very wealthy, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026

But the Swedes, winners at the 1994 and 2006 Winter Games, had no trouble dismissing the Latvians at the Santagiulia Arena to move onto a meeting with the unbeaten Americans on Wednesday.

From Barron's • Feb. 17, 2026

During Canada’s win over Sweden on Friday, the Swedes taped Kennedy’s release and the video showed him touching the stone with his index finger after releasing the handle.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026

That the Swedes had deployed someone to try to catch them out in a game that is founded in trust and respect.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

Sometimes he takes me to restaurants, with checked tablecloths and candles stuck in Chianti bottles; sometimes to foreign films about Swedes and Japanese, in small uncrowded theaters.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood