"Sweeney" meaning in English

See Sweeney in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

IPA: /ˈswiːni/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav Forms: Sweeneys [plural], Sweany [alternative], Sweeny [alternative], Swinney [alternative]
Rhymes: -iːni Etymology: Anglicized form of Irish Ó Suibhne. Compare McSweeney. Etymology templates: {{der|en|ga|Ó Suibhne}} Irish Ó Suibhne Head templates: {{en-proper noun|s}} Sweeney (plural Sweeneys)
  1. A surname from Irish.
    Sense id: en-Sweeney-en-name-O~oc0EH- Categories (other): English surnames
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Proper name

IPA: /ˈswiːni/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav Forms: the Sweeney [canonical]
Rhymes: -iːni Etymology: From Sweeney Todd, the name of a fictional character. Head templates: {{en-proper noun|def=1}} the Sweeney
  1. (Cockney rhyming slang) The Flying Squad, a branch of the London police service. Tags: Cockney, slang Derived forms: Swedey
    Sense id: en-Sweeney-en-name-pQEgsq04 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Nicknames Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 15 85 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 23 77 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 18 82 Disambiguation of Nicknames: 11 89
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ga",
        "3": "Ó Suibhne"
      },
      "expansion": "Irish Ó Suibhne",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Anglicized form of Irish Ó Suibhne. Compare McSweeney.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Sweeneys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Sweany",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Sweeny",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Swinney",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "Sweeney (plural Sweeneys)",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English surnames",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 August 2, Scottie Andrew, Leah Asmelash, Harmeet Kaur, “What has America learned from the Sydney Sweeney situation? We asked the experts”, in CNN:",
          "text": "Experts agree that Sydney Sweeney is always winning. She emerges from this national dust-up only more powerful than ever.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A surname from Irish."
      ],
      "id": "en-Sweeney-en-name-O~oc0EH-",
      "links": [
        [
          "surname",
          "surname"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswiːni/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-iːni"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Sweeney"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "From Sweeney Todd, the name of a fictional character.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the Sweeney",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "def": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "the Sweeney",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nicknames",
          "orig": "en:Nicknames",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "Swedey"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              161,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018, Gary London, For the Love of Brass:",
          "text": "It turned out the police wouldn't raid the place until the Monday morning but in the meantime there were drinks to drink and drugs to take. Even Lettsbe and the Sweeney arrived and joined in the celebrations with us.\nThe police, however, did hit Jill's address early on Monday morning.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The Flying Squad, a branch of the London police service."
      ],
      "id": "en-Sweeney-en-name-pQEgsq04",
      "links": [
        [
          "Cockney rhyming slang",
          "Cockney rhyming slang"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Cockney rhyming slang) The Flying Squad, a branch of the London police service."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Cockney",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswiːni/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-iːni"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Sweeney Todd"
  ],
  "word": "Sweeney"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English eponyms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English proper nouns",
    "English terms derived from Irish",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/iːni",
    "Rhymes:English/iːni/2 syllables",
    "en:Nicknames"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ga",
        "3": "Ó Suibhne"
      },
      "expansion": "Irish Ó Suibhne",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Anglicized form of Irish Ó Suibhne. Compare McSweeney.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Sweeneys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Sweany",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Sweeny",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Swinney",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "Sweeney (plural Sweeneys)",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English surnames",
        "English surnames from Irish",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 August 2, Scottie Andrew, Leah Asmelash, Harmeet Kaur, “What has America learned from the Sydney Sweeney situation? We asked the experts”, in CNN:",
          "text": "Experts agree that Sydney Sweeney is always winning. She emerges from this national dust-up only more powerful than ever.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A surname from Irish."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surname",
          "surname"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswiːni/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-iːni"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Sweeney"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English eponyms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English proper nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/iːni",
    "Rhymes:English/iːni/2 syllables",
    "en:Nicknames"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Swedey"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "From Sweeney Todd, the name of a fictional character.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the Sweeney",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "def": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "the Sweeney",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Cockney rhyming slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              161,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018, Gary London, For the Love of Brass:",
          "text": "It turned out the police wouldn't raid the place until the Monday morning but in the meantime there were drinks to drink and drugs to take. Even Lettsbe and the Sweeney arrived and joined in the celebrations with us.\nThe police, however, did hit Jill's address early on Monday morning.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The Flying Squad, a branch of the London police service."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Cockney rhyming slang",
          "Cockney rhyming slang"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Cockney rhyming slang) The Flying Squad, a branch of the London police service."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Cockney",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswiːni/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Sumxr-Sweeney.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-iːni"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Sweeney Todd"
  ],
  "word": "Sweeney"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Sweeney meaning in English (3.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.