swyven

== Middle English == === Alternative forms === swyve swyfe (Northern) === Etymology === Inherited from Old English swīfan (“to sweep”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīban, from Proto-Germanic *swībaną. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈswiːvən/ === Verb === swyven (third-person singular simple present swyveth, present participle swyvende, swyvynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle swyved) (ambitransitive, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse; copulate. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Descendants ==== English: swive Middle Scots: swyfe, swyve ==== References ==== “swīven, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. Benson, Larry D. (1984), “The "Queynte" Punnings of Chaucer's Critics”, in Studies in the Age of Chaucer: Proceedings, volume 1, the New Chaucer Society, →DOI, page 30: “By Chaucer's time the older meanings of the verb had disappeared, and it had become one of the most offensive words in Middle English.”