schwul

From German schwul.

schwul (not comparable)

1. (Limburg) homosexual

Borrowed from Middle Low German swōl, swūl (“sultry, hot and humid”) (17th century), adopted into Standard German as schwül in the 18th century, ultimately from the root of schwelen (“to smoulder”).

The older form without umlaut appears in Berlin dialect in the 19th century in the current sense, building on the slang term warm (as in warmer Bruder) for ‘homosexual’. The earliest attestation of this sense dates to 1847 (Paul Derks).

• IPA^(key): /ʃvuːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

schwul (strong nominative masculine singular schwuler, comparative schwuler, superlative am schwulsten)

1. (colloquial) gay [from 1847]

   Synonyms: gay, homosexuell, homo, (dated) warm

2. (derogatory, slang) having effeminate or flamboyant qualities; fruity, queer, swishy
   • 2016 December 30, Moritz von Uslar, “Party braucht keinen König”, in Die Zeit‎^[1]:

     Haupts Definition seiner Geschlechtsidentität lautet: "Klar, man hat sich schwul zu verhalten." Auf eine noch kürzere Formel gebracht: Schwul sein, ohne Schwuchtel zu sein.

     Haupt's definition of his gender identity is: "Sure, you have to act gay." Put even more succinctly: Being gay without being a sissy.

• Originally and still chiefly used of men. In more modern usage, sometimes extended to other genders.

• schwül

• “schwul” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schwul” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schwul” in Duden online
• “schwul” in OpenThesaurus.de