swiss

swiss — adjective

1. relating to the country of Switzerland, or to the people, products, culture, or

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

relating to the country of Switzerland, or to the people, products, culture, or organisations that come from there.

Example

Trang bought a Swiss watch as a souvenir from her visit to Zurich.

collocation: Swiss watch / Swiss bank / Swiss cheese

The Swiss Alps attract skiers from all over the world every winter.

Common collocations
  • Swiss watch
  • Swiss cheese
  • Swiss bank
  • Swiss Alps
  • Swiss army knife
  • Swiss chocolate
  • Swiss passport

Grammar Patterns

Swiss + noun

Usage Note

Always written with a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence. Often appears before nouns that name well-known Swiss products (watch, cheese, chocolate) or institutions (bank, university, government).

Common Mistakes

I bought a swiss watch.
I bought a Swiss watch.
nationality adjectives are always capitalised in English.

swiss — noun

Word family

  • Switzerland
    nounA2
  • Swiss (adj.)
    adjectiveA2
  • Swiss (n.)
    nounA2
  • Swiss-German
    adjectiveB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Swiss is a unique case: it is a proper adjective with no direct synonyms — there is no other word that means 'from or connected with Switzerland.' Some learners confuse Swiss with Swedish (from Sweden) or with Swiss-German (a dialect group). Unlike general adjectives such as nice or big, Swiss does not have near-synonyms because it names a specific national origin. The closest functional equivalent would be the full phrase 'of Switzerland' (e.g. 'the bank of Switzerland' vs. 'the Swiss bank'), which is more formal and less common in everyday use.

Swiss (adj.)

Etymology

Old High GermanFrenchEnglish

Swiss comes from the name of the canton (region) of Schwyz, one of the three original cantons that formed the Old Swiss Confederacy in the late 13th century. The word entered English through Middle French Suisse, from Old High German Suittes, referring to the people of Schwyz. By the 16th century, English texts used Swiss as both an adjective and a noun.