Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: annandag jul

On the second day of Christmas, The Local gave to you, the story behind the Swedish word for Boxing Day.

Published: 26 December 2018 07:59 CET
Updated: 26 December 2023 12:01 CET

the word annandag jul on a black background by a swedish flag

Annandag jul follows julafton and juldagen. Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

December 26th has a curious set of names around the world. In English, it is known as Boxing Day. In Swedish, the name makes a lot more sense: annandag jul, which literally means “the second day of Christmas”.

The day is also known as den helige Stefanos dag (St Stephen’s Day) and Stefanidagen in Swedish-speaking Finland, in honour of a saint believed to have been stoned to death on this day. But in secular Sweden you’re much more likely to hear the term annandag jul in general conversation.

December 26th is a red day or public holiday in Sweden. And several centuries ago, December 27th was sometimes called tredjedag jul or “the third day of Christmas” and was also a day off for many years. That was the case from 1772 until Gustav III abolished the extra holiday, but the name tredjedag jul is still used by some.

There aren’t many traditions specifically tied to annandag jul. As well as spending time with family, it’s also become known for sporting events such as Annandagsbandy (Boxing Day bandy), a set of bandy matches that take place every year on the date, although for a long time the Swedish Church criticised this custom.

Example sentences:

Vi ska besöka min frus familj på annandag jul

We’re going to visit my wife’s family on December 26th

Annandag jul är en dag för familjen och sport

Boxing Day is a day for family and sport

Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local’s new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Swedish word of the day: shit

The word shit in Swedish is, as you may have guessed, a loanword from English. It has its roots in Middle English schit and scythe, meaning “dung”, which in turn originated in a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to split, divide or separate.

There are a number of words in other European languages which have the same root, like schijt in Dutch, Scheiße in German, skidt in Danish, skit/skitt in Norwegian and the Swedish word skit.

So, why does Swedish have two words for shit? Essentially, they’re used (and pronounced) in different ways.

Shit, pronounced similarly to the English word but in a Swedish accent, is essentially only used as an exclamation, whether that’s for something good or bad, and most adults in Sweden wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they heard a small child saying it.

Don’t miss any of The Local’s Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button

It normally indicates some sort of surprise or shock, similar to “wow” or “oh my god” in English. You might also hear it in the phrase shit pommes frites, which literally translates as “shit, French fries!” which a Swedish speaker might use to express surprise: shit pommes frites, har du fått en ny mobil?! (“shit French fries, have you got a new phone?!”)

If you accidentally bumped into someone in a queue, for example, you could say shit, förlåt (shit, sorry), and if you came to some sort of realisation, you could say oj shit! (oh shit!). In general, saying shit would be acceptable even in professional situations with Swedes.

Skit, on the other hand, is pronounced with the sort of whooshing sj or sk-sound at the beginning, kind of like the word wheat, but with a whistle at the start.

It’s used in Swedish in broadly the same ways you’d use shit in English, both in the sense of actual faeces (as a noun and a verb) but also as a vulgar way to describe some sort of undesirable material or thing: jag har tröttnat på den här skiten (I’m tired of this shit) or ta bort din skit från bordet (take your shit off the table).

You may also have come across it in the term skit samma (the milder variant would be strunt samma), which can be translated as “never mind” or “forget it”, or skit också if something unfortunate happens (skit också, jag missade bussen – damn it, I missed the bus).

You can also describe something as being skit, use it in phrases like jag förstår inte ett skit (I don’t understand shit) and as an intensifier: han bankade skiten ur honom (he beat the shit out of him).

In contrast to shit, skit is generally considered less acceptable to use in a professional situation… although you will probably still hear children say it.

Example sentences:

Oj shit, spelar du in det här?

Oh shit, are you recording this?

Ska vi inte åka snart? Shit, ja, klockan är redan 12!

Shouldn’t we leave soon? Shit, yeah, it’s already 12 o’clock!

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

Url copied to clipboard!