sweet

Etymology

From Middle English swete, from Old English swēte (“sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī, from Proto-Germanic *swōtuz (“sweet”), from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (“sweet”). Cognate and synonymous with Scots sweit (“sweet”), North Frisian sweete (“sweet”), Saterland Frisian swäit (“sweet”), West Frisian swiet (“sweet”), Dutch zoet (“sweet”), German Low German sööt (“sweet”), German süß (“sweet”), Danish sød (“sweet”), Swedish söt (“sweet”), Norwegian søt (“sweet”), Icelandic sætur (“sweet”), Latin suāvis, Sanskrit स्वादु (svādú), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús). Doublet of suave.

adj

1. Having a pleasant taste, especially one relating to the basic taste sensation induced by sugar.
   a sweet apple
2. Having a taste of sugar.
   A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades. May 16 2018, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired
3. (wine) Retaining a portion of sugar.
   Sweet wines are better dessert wines.
4. Not having a salty taste.
   sweet butter
5. Having a pleasant smell.
   a sweet scent
6. Not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale.
   sweet milk
7. Having a pleasant sound.
   a sweet tune
   a voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Ticknor and Fields, page 135
8. Having a pleasing disposition.
   a sweet child
   You're so sweet!
   There's something tragic, but almost pure / Think I could love you, but I'm not sure / There's something wholesome, there's something sweet / Tucked in your eyes that I'd love to meet 13 April 2017, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile, performed by Lovelytheband
9. Having a helpful disposition.
   It was sweet of him to help out.
10. (mineralogy) Free from excessive unwanted substances like acid or sulphur.
    sweet gas
    sweet soil
    sweet crude oil
11. (informal) Very pleasing; agreeable.
    The new Lexus was a sweet birthday gift.
    Her crew knew that deep in her heart beat engines fit and able to push her blunt old nose ahead at a sweet fourteen knots, come Hell or high water. 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1
    14 November 2014, Steven Haliday, Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero GORDON Strachan enjoyed the sweetest of his 16 matches in charge of Scotland so far as his team enhanced their prospects of Euro 2016 qualification with a crucial and deserved victory over Republic of Ireland.
12. (Australia, slang) Doing well; in a good or happy position.
    "Visit in two days though," said Tommo. "Hang in there mate, got a joey coming, we'll be sweet then." 2012, John Hoskison, Inside: One Man's Experience of Prison
13. (informal, followed by on) Romantically fixated; enamored with; fond of.
    The attraction was mutual and instant; they were sweet on one another from first sight.
14. Fresh; not salt or brackish.
    sweet water
    The white of an egg, or blood mingled with salt water, doth gather the saltness and maketh the water sweeter; this may be by adhesion. 1627, Francis Bacon, “Sylva Sylvarum: or A Natural History”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, published 1826, page 66
    Nothing has been found so effectual for preserving water sweet at sea, during long voyages, as charring the insides of the casks well before they are filled. 1821, Robert Thomas, The modern practice of physic, page 713
15. (of soil, UK, dated) Alkaline.
16. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair.
    a sweet face
    a sweet colour or complexion
    Sweet interchange / Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains. 1667, John Milton, Paradise lost (source), Samuel Simmons, page 278
17. An intensifier.
    For someone who hadn't seen her only sister in over twenty years, Alice sure took her sweet time. 2014, Rexanne Becnel, Leaving L.A., page 12

intj

1. Used as a positive response to good news or information.
   They're making a sequel? Ah, sweet!

adv

1. In a sweet manner.

noun

1. (uncountable) The basic taste sensation induced by sugar.
2. (countable, especially UK) A confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a candy.
3. (countable, especially UK) A food eaten for dessert.
   Can we see the sweet menu, please?
4. Synonym of sweetheart, a term of affection.
   "You think that I'll take anything." "I know you will, sweet..." "There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be." "Well, there is now," she said sweetly. 1936 Aug., Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", Cosmopolitan
   Good evening, my sweet.
5. (obsolete) That which is sweet or pleasant in odour; a perfume.
6. (obsolete) Sweetness, delight; something pleasant to the mind or senses.
   Fear's fire to fervency, which makes love's sweet prove nectar. 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, III.2

verb

1. (obsolete or poetic) To sweeten.
   In size and shape it resembles the heart of a calf, and the interior substance is similar to thick cream, sweeted with fine sugar. 1825, John Breckinridge, C.R. Harrison, Western Luminary ... - Volume 1, page 318
   It might also be given in the form of a mixture — the drug being insoluble in a watery menstruum — suspended by the aid of mucilage and sweeted by any of the various flavoring syrups. 1890, The Cincinnati Lancet-clinic - Volume 63, page 331
   Bring me now where the warm wind blows, where the grasses sigh, where the sweet-tongued blossom flowers; where the shower, fan soft like a fishermans net thrown through the sweeted air. 1997, Morag Styles, From the Garden to the Street
   A sour maketh sweets two-fold sweeted. 2012, Keith Ringkamp, PATIENCE WORTH: A Balm for Every Ill, page 34