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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Swede swede

The Swede, who’s lived in L.A. for nearly a decade, hosts a secretive, recurring party at the bar called SOUP.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

Lundberg, a Swede who is now retired, quit a prominent job at AstraZeneca in London to take a position at Lilly’s headquarters in Indianapolis.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

The Swede cleared a meet record 6.13m to finish comfortably ahead of France's Baptiste Thierry, who took second place with a personal best 5.93m.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

Swede Aberg also shot a 69 while England's Fleetwood knocked in birdies on the fifth and sixth holes - his 14th and 15th - as he posted a level-par 70.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

It was determined that Goran Kropp, a young Swede who had ridden a bicycle from Stockholm to Nepal, would make the first attempt, alone, on May 3.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

In a two-year experiment, about 800 swede plants were grown over 10 generations on different soil types in a greenhouse.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024

This is why the following vegetables, which belong to the brassica family, have different tastes: broccoli, cabbage, kale, swede, wasabi, horseradish, turnip, rocket, watercress, cauliflower and mustard.

From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2022

"We have a traditional Christmas dinner: turkey - although I don't like stuffing - potatoes, carrots and swede," he says.

From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2021

This is, perhaps, the reason that it’s sometimes called a Swedish turnip or simply a swede.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 29, 2019

Does it satisfy you, as a man made in the image of God, to be able to distinguish between a mangold and a swede?

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, Jan. 8, 1919 by Various

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