swan song
noun
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Swans don't sing. They whistle or trumpet, or in the case of the swan most common in ponds, the mute swan, they only hiss and snort. But according to ancient legend, the swan does sing one beautiful song in its life-just before it dies. References in English to the dying swan's lovely singing go back as far as Chaucer, but the term swan song itself didn't appear in the language until the 1830s, when Thomas Carlyle used it in Sartor Resartus. Carlyle probably based his "swan song" on the German version of the term, which is Schwanengesang or Schwanenlied.
Examples of swan song in a Sentence
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2026
The British designer succeeds Véronique Nichanian, fashion’s longest-serving creative director, who will stage her swan song this month after a 37-year tenure at the French house.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 8 Jan. 2026
In movies like Sátántangó, Werckmeister Harmonies, and his extraordinary swan song, 2011’s The Turin Horse, the Hungarian filmmaker crafted dreamlike narratives populated with disillusioned, spiritually bereft characters facing harsh realities.
—Tim Grierson, Rolling Stone, 6 Jan. 2026
In a large, familiar ensemble, the 14-year-old British actress has burst on the scene as a driving force of the Netflix phenomenon’s swan song.
—Derek Lawrence, HollywoodReporter, 2 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Swan song.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swan%20song. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
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