List of English words of Swedish origin
Encyclopedia
This is a list of English language
words borrowed from the Swedish language
. Some may be from other Scandinavian languages such as Danish
or Norwegian
, or may come from Old Norse when it was a single language.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
words borrowed from the Swedish language
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
. Some may be from other Scandinavian languages such as Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
or Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, or may come from Old Norse when it was a single language.
- ångströmÅngströmThe angstrom or ångström, is a unit of length equal to 1/10,000,000,000 of a meter . Its symbol is the Swedish letter Å....
, often written as "angstrom", (after the Swedish scientist Anders Jonas ÅngströmAnders Jonas ÅngströmAnders Jonas Ångström was a Swedish physicist and one of the founders of the science of spectroscopy.-Biography:...
) - fartlekFartlekFartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish, is a form of interval training which puts stress on the whole aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies,...
"speed-play", technique used in running - glögg, (Swedish term for mulled wineMulled wineMulled wine, variations of which are popular in Europe, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween.-Glühwein:...
) - gravlaxGravlaxGravlax or gravad lax , gravet laks , gravlaks , graavilohi , graavilõhe , graflax is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill...
literally meaning "grave salmon", salmon preserved originally underground. - lek, (from the Swedish leka, "to play")
- lingonberry, from lingon
- mopedMopedMopeds are a type of low-powered motorcycle designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements.Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals , but moped has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their...
- orienteeringOrienteeringOrienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
- smorgasbordSmörgåsbordSmörgåsbord is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden. In Norway it is called koldtbord, in Denmark it is called det kolde bord, in Finland seisova pöytä and in Estonia rootsi laud...
(from the Swedish smörgåsbord, literally "sandwich table"), which in Swedish only refers to a buffet with very specific types of food - surströmmingSurströmmingSurströmming herring") is a northern Swedish dish consisting of fermented Baltic herring. Surströmming is sold in cans, which often bulge during shipping and storage, due to the continued fermentation. When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odor, which explains why...
- trapp basaltsFlood basaltA flood basalt or trap basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Flood basalts have occurred on continental scales in prehistory, creating great plateaus and mountain ranges...
, or "trapps" stair-shaped rock formations (from the Swedish trappor, "stairs") - tungstenTungstenTungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
literally "heavy stone", refers in Swedish to a mineral containing tungsten and not the metal itself (Swedish volfram) - yrastYrastYrast is a technical term in nuclear physics that refers to a state of a nucleus with a minimum of energy for a given angular momentum. Yr is a Swedish adjective derived from the Old Norse hvirfla, the same root as the English whirl...
a technical term in nuclear physics that refers to a state of a nucleus with a minimum of energy for a given angular momentum - OmbudsmanOmbudsmanAn ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests.