# swan song

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/swan-song
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A final performance or accomplishment, especially one before retirement.

## Examples

- This concert is the band's swan song.
- She treats this final project as her professional swan song.
- The veteran athlete announced that this championship game will be his swan song before he retires.
- The chef prepared a magnificent seven-course meal as a swan song on his last night before the restaurant closed forever.
- After forty years of teaching, the professor gave a moving lecture that served as a perfect swan song for his students.
- The aging novelist spent years crafting her final manuscript, intending it to be a brilliant swan song to her long and celebrated career.

## Origin

A calque of the German Schwanenlied, from Schwan and Lied, or the alternative Schwanengesang. The term entered English through the ancient belief that the mute swan, otherwise silent throughout its life, produces a final, beautiful melody immediately before its death. While the ornithological basis for the claim is nonexistent, the metaphor for a final performance remains established.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.