swarm

English

Etymology

From Middle English swarm, from Old English swearm (“swarm, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz (“swarm, dizziness”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Swoorm (“swarm”), Dutch zwerm, German Schwarm, Danish sværm, Swedish svärm, Icelandic svarmur (“tumult, swarm”), Latin susurrus (“whispering, humming”), Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).

The verb is from Middle English swarmen, swermen, from Old English swierman (“to swarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarmijan, from Proto-Germanic *swarmijaną (“to swarm”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots swairm, swerm (“to swarm”), Dutch zwermen, German schwärmen, Danish sværme, Swedish svärma.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /swɔɹm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /swɔːm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m

Noun

swarm of locusts.

swarm (plural swarms)

1. A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–21:

     […] reſtleſs thoughts, that like a deadly ſwarm / Of Hornets arm'd […] ruſh upon me thronging,

2. A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.

   a swarm of meteorites

   • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]

3. (computing) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
4. (seismology) A number of small earthquakes (or other seismic events) occurring, with no clear cause, in a specific area within a relatively short space of time.
   • 2020, Daniel Yergin, The New Map, Penguin, published 2021, page 28:

     Earthquakes were another concern, particularly after swarms were felt in Oklahoma.

Derived terms

• aswarm
• dyke swarm
• Dyson swarm
• swarm intelligence
• swarm plot
• swarm spore

 

Translations

large number of insects

• Afrikaans: swerm (af)
• Albanian: shemë (sq), luzmë (sq) f
• Arabic: ثَوْل (ṯawl)
• Armenian: պարս (hy) (pars)
• Belarusian: рой m (roj)
• Bulgarian: рой (bg) m (roj), роя́к (bg) m (roják)
• Catalan: eixam (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 群 (zh) (qún)

• Czech: roj (cs) m
• Danish: sværm (da) c
• Dutch: zwerm (nl)
• Finnish: parvi (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: èssem m
• French: essaim (fr) m (flying insects), grouillement (fr) m (crawling insects)
• Friulian: scuam m
• Galician: enxame (gl) m
• Georgian: ნაყარი (naq̇ari)
• German: Schwarm (de) m
• Greek: σμήνος (el) n (smínos)

  Ancient: σμῆνος n (smênos), ἑσμός m (hesmós)

• Hebrew: נְחִיל (he) m (neḥíl)
• Hungarian: raj (hu)
• Hunsrik: Schwaarem m
• Ido: esamo (io)
• Irish: saithe f, scaoth f
• Italian: sciame (it) m, nugolo (it) m
• Japanese: 群れ (ja) (むれ, mure), 雲霞 (ja) (うんか, unka)
• Korean: 떼 (ko) (tte), 무리 (ko) (muri)
• Latin: exāmen n
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: рој m (roj)
• Maori: pōī
• Mpade: mam
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sverm (no) m, bisverm m

  Nynorsk: sverm m, bisverm m

• Occitan: eissam (oc) m
• Old Czech: roj n
• Old East Slavic: рои m (roi)
• Ottoman Turkish: اوغل (oğul)
• Persian: اِزدِحام (fa) (ezdehâm)
• Plautdietsch: Schwoarm n
• Polish: rój (pl) m, chmara (pl) f
• Portuguese: enxame (pt) m, nuvem (pt) f (in flight), correição (pt) f (especially ants)
• Romanian: roi (ro)
• Russian: рой (ru) m (roj)
• Sardinian: schissura f
• Scottish Gaelic: sgaoth m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рој m

  Roman: roj (sh) m

• Sicilian: sciamu (scn) m, assamu (scn) m
• Slovak: roj m
• Slovene: roj (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: roj m

• Spanish: enjambre (es), nube (es) f
• Swahili: jana (sw)
• Swedish: svärm (sv) c
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: рій m (rij)
• Venetan: same m, samo m
• Vilamovian: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: (bees) kümam (vo)
• Welsh: haid f
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

a mass of people or animals in turmoil

• Bulgarian: ста́до (bg) n (stádo)
• Czech: dav (cs) m, hejno (cs) n, houf (cs) m, zástup (cs) m
• Danish: sværm (da) c
• Dutch: menigte (nl), massa (nl)
• Finnish: lauma (fi)
• French: nuée (fr) f, essaim (fr) m
• Galician: liorna f, barafunda f
• German: Schwarm (de) m
• Greek: στίφος (el) n (stífos), εσμός (el) m (esmós), (people) όχλος (el) m (óchlos)
• Hungarian: horda (hu), sokaság (hu)
• Japanese: 群衆 (ja) (ぐんしゅう, gunshū)
• Lithuanian: spiečius m
• Polish: mrowie (pl) n
• Portuguese: multidão (pt) f, enxame (pt) m, turba (pt) f, turbamulta (pt) f, turbilhão (pt) m, tropel (pt) m, roda-viva f, barafunda (pt) f
• Russian: (people) толпа́ (ru) f (tolpá), (birds) ста́я (ru) f (stája)
• Scottish Gaelic: (animals) sgaoth m, (people) sluagh m
• Spanish: multitud (es), muchedumbre (es), masa (es), aglomeración (es), barahúnda (es) f
• Swahili: jana (sw)
• Swedish: myller (sv) n, vimmel (sv)
• Tamil: திரள் (ta) (tiraḷ)
• Ukrainian: на́товп m (nátovp), юрба́ (uk) f (jurbá)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ჯგუფი (ǯgupi)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} sciame (it) m
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 云集 (zh) (yúnjí), ^{(please verify)} 成群移动 (chéng qún yídòng), ^{(please verify)} (昆虫)群 (kūnchóng qún)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} roi (ro), ^{(please verify)} stol (ro) n
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} roj (sh) m

Verb

swarm (third-person singular simple present swarms, present participle swarming, simple past and past participle swarmed)

1. (intransitive) To move as a swarm.
   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

     There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.

2. (intransitive) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     Every place swarming with soldiers.

3. (transitive) To fill a place as a swarm.
   • 2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 48:

     All is well until Treorchy, where the platform is swamped by teenagers who have been attending an event. Around four dozen unescorted 12 to 16 year-olds swarm aboard and begin to run riot through the train. Their behaviour is appalling and the presence of CCTV no deterrent.

4. (transitive) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
   • 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 37:59 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎^[1], archived from the original on 20 July 2022:

     So, yeah. The overall conclusion of the big gunfight being that, if Yamato is able to tackle the Colorados early, then the Japanese probably have a, maybe a sixty-to-sixty-five-percent chance of pulling this off... although you say "pulling it off", it's more a case of "the Japanese are the last battleship standing"; they tend to then just get swarmed by angry Fletchers […]

5. To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
   • 1784, William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark:

     At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 55”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.

6. To breed multitudes.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 526–527:

     Not ſo thick ſwarm'd once the Soil / Bedropt with blood of Gorgon,

Translations

to move as a swarm

• Armenian: վխտալ (hy) (vxtal)
• Catalan: eixamenar-se
• Czech: hemžit se, rojit se impf
• Finnish: vyöryä (fi)
• French: essaimer (fr) (bees only)
• Hungarian: rajzik (hu)
• Italian: pullulare (it), sciamare (it)
• Latin: exāminō
• Occitan: essaimar
• Portuguese: enxamear (pt)
• Russian: кишеть (ru) impf (kišetʹ), роиться (ru) (roitʹsja) (for bees)
• Slovene: rojiti (sl)
• Spanish: enjambrar (es)
• Walloon: samer (wa) (bees only)

to teem, or be overrun with insects

• Armenian: վխտալ (hy) (vxtal)
• Bulgarian: гъмжа (bg) (gǎmža)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 翃 (zh) (hóng), 蜂擁／蜂拥 (zh) (fēngyōng)

• Czech: hemžit se, být plný
• Dutch: zwermen (nl)
• Hungarian: hemzseg (hu)
• Italian: pullulare (it)
• Low German:

  German Low German: swarmen

• Maori: rearea, ngahua, ngahue, pōhūhū, tāmuimui, pūrau
• Portuguese: fervilhar (pt), pulular (pt)
• Russian: кише́ть (ru) impf (kišétʹ)
• Slovene: rojiti (sl)
• Spanish: hormiguear (es), pulular (es)
• Ukrainian: киші́ти (kyšíty)

to fill a place as a swarm

• Armenian: վխտալ (hy) (vxtal)
• Finnish: vyöryä sisään
• Hungarian: elözönöl (hu)
• Maori: ngahua, ngahue, rearea
• Portuguese: infestar (pt)
• Russian: кишеть (ru) impf (kišetʹ)
• Spanish: atestar (es), infestar (es)

to overwhelm

• Finnish: vyöryttää

to climb by gripping with arms and legs

• Czech: šplhat (cs) impf
• Finnish: kiivetä nelinkontin
• Hungarian: mászik (hu)
• Russian: кара́бкаться (ru) n or impf (karábkatʹsja)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} grouiller (fr), ^{(please verify)} pulluler (fr)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} enjambrar (es)

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• warms

Middle English

Alternative forms

• swrame, swarme

Etymology

From Old English swearm, from Proto-Germanic *swarmaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swarm/, /swɛrm/

Noun

swarm (plural swarmes)

1. A swarm (large, moving group of bees)
2. (rare) A large group of people.

Derived terms

• swarmen

Descendants

• English: swarm
• Scots: swairm

References

• “swarm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.