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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: shit

Before you get offended by this potty-mouthed word of the day, we should probably tell you that this English swear word is a lot milder in Swedish.

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 USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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