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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: knull

After a short hiatus, our word of the day series is back with a, er, bang. But there's a good reason why we're talking about this word today.

Swedish word of the day: knull
This word wasn't always what it is today. Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Today's word is not one to use in polite company: ett knull means 'an act of sexual intercourse'. The one-word English translation would be 'fuck', except it's probably even more vulgar (knull is never used in any other context, like 'fuck' can be used as an expression of frustration, surprise, or an intensifier). 

It's been used in Swedish for centuries, and comes from the verb knulla.

As we all know, Swedish speakers love compound words, and yes, knull appears in plenty: knullkompis (fuck buddy), knullbar (fuckable), knullrufs (bed hair).

Why are we talking about this word today? 

Well, when Marvel Comics launched an ad campaign to tease a new villain arriving to their universe this year, the slogan was “knull is coming” (that's the name of the character). Needless to say, they probably didn't get the reaction they intended from their Swedish fanbase.

But we know what you're really interested in – the linguistic history of knull, of course! 

You can also use knull to talk about a person you've had sex with, although it's quite derogatory for obvious reasons. 

But it didn't always have a sexual connotation, since it originally meant 'to bump' or 'to push'. It comes from an Old Germanic word, and is related to the verb knüllen in today's German, which might make Swedish speakers giggle but actually means “to crumple”.

One of the earliest recorded uses of Swedish knull was in, believe it or not, a bible from the 1500s. But it was used as an onomatopoetic verb describing the sound a pigeon makes.

Slowly it entered the Swedish vocabulary as a euphemistic term for sex, and during the 1600s it wasn't seen as vulgar, but can be found in old love poetry. These days, we'd suggest you avoid that unless you really, really know your audience.

Member comments

  1. I had an old friend with whom I used teach skiing here in Scotland in the mid-1970s, and with whom I used to get up to no end of drunken mischief those days. In late 1979 we both pitched up independently in Sweden, though in different cities (I in Stockholm, he in Gävle). He had worked there some years previously and spoke pretty good Swedish, while I was learning the language in evening classes and using an audio tape course (yes, that’s how we did it those days). In midsummer 1980 we went skiing up in Riksgränsen, a story I recently recounted with pictures on my Facebook page on the 40th anniversary of the trip, which is why it’s fresh in my memory after all those years. We had a mutual pal back in Edinburgh who published a monthly Scottish skiing newspaper called “Inside Edge”. My pal used to write a column on skiing in Sweden for the paper, under the pen name of “Max Knull”. He told the owner what it meant in Swedish, and of course I knew as well, but none of the rest of the readership did.

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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: kondis

Today’s word has two meanings: one is healthy, the other less so.

Swedish word of the day: kondis

Kondis is a great example of a Swedish slang word ending in -is, which essentially is the shortened version of a longer word.

Somewhat confusingly, in the case of kondis, there are actually two similar words which have both been shortened in this way, resulting in one word with two different meanings.

The first meaning comes from konditori, the Swedish version of a patisserie or bakery, which you might recognise from the German word Konditor (a confectioner or pastry chef), originally from the Latin word condītor, which referred to a person who preserved, pickled or seasoned food.

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The word kondis can either refer to a konditori itself, or to the type of baked goods and pastries they offer. A kondis differs somewhat from a bageri (bakery), which is more likely to focus on savoury or rustic baked goods, like bread (although many kondis also sell bread, and many bagerier will serve some sort of cake or sweet treat too). 

A kondis is also more likely to have some area where you can sit and enjoy your food on-site, perhaps with a cup of tea or coffee, while bakeries are more likely to be take-away only.

The second meaning of kondis is a shortened version of the word kondition, which translates roughly as your endurance or fitness. If you’re good at running, you might be described as having bra kondition or bra kondis, roughly equal to being fit. 

Another similar slang word for this in Swedish would be flås, which technically translates to “panting”, but can be used in the same way as kondis to describe physical endurance or fitness.

Example sentences:

Om man äter för mycket kondis kan man få dålig kondis.

If you eat too many pastries you could end up less fit.

Sprang du hela vägen hit? Du måste ha bra kondis!

Did you run the whole way here? You must be in good shape.

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 USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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