named for Schwyz, one of its original cantons. On postage stamps, etc., identified by the Roman name for the region, Helvetia, to avoid having to print the four different forms of the name in the country's four official languages: Suisse, Schweiz, Svizzera, Svizra.

1510s, from French Suisse, from Middle High German Suizer, from Suiz "Switzerland" (see Switzerland and compare Switzer (1570s), archaic word for "a Swiss," and German Schweiz). As an adjective from 1520s. Swiss banks were notable for assuring anonymity and security by 1949. Swiss cheese is attested from 1808; as a type of something full of holes, from 1924.