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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Tropenat

Today's word will make you kick off your bedsheets and open all the windows.

Published: 17 August 2022 17:18 CEST

What is tropenat?

Tropenat means “tropical night” in English. It is formed by compounding the words for “tropic” and “night”.

Given that Denmark is a country perhaps more famous for its cold winters than warm weather, you may find it surprising that the language has a word for sweltering evenings.

The Danish Meteorological Agency (DMI) classifies a night as tropical if the temperature remains above 20 degrees Celsius throughout a 24-hour period. The same definition is used in other European countries, meaning tropenat is a widespread weather term.

Why do I need to know tropenat?

High daytime temperatures are sometimes be accompanied by ‘tropical’ nights, but this isn’t always the case in temperate Denmark. As such, even in summers which feel exceptionally hot for the Scandinavian country — when daytime heat pushes well over 30 degrees Celsius — a tropenat can still be a relatively rare event.

Because winters in Denmark are cold, homes in the country are designed to hold heat as much as possible. Therefore, if you see a tropenat mentioned in the weather forecast, you can probably expect an uncomfortable night’s sleep.

However, one particular Danish custom might come in as an unexpected ally on warm sticky nights.

People in Denmark (and Scandinavia in generally) sleep with two single duvets rather than a double one.

This helps deal with a tropical night as single duvets allow people to regulate their temperature better when they sleep. Poor temperature regulation and struggles with a large shared duvet contribute to a worse night’s sleep, according to experts.

Example

Member comments

  1. In your Word of the Day sections, please include an English self-pronunciation of the word. This requires dividing the word into its syllables and indicating which syllable should be accented. The difference in pronouncing the ‘a’, ‘e’ and other letters will also be necessary.
    By providing the self-pronunciation to each word, we can learn to speak your language correctly, instead of the broken-Danish that must annoy many Danes.

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For members

DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Kværn

This unassuming little word pops up surprisingly often in Danish, so it's a very good one to have in your vocabulary.

Published: 13 June 2024 17:08 CEST
Danish word of the day: Kværn

What is kværn?

Kværn is a noun meaning “mill” or “grinder”, used to refer to any kind of tool or machine that breaks a substance down into smaller pieces.

A kværn can be small, for example a peberkværn (pepper mill) or kaffekværn (coffee grinder).

There’s some overlap between kværn and mølle, the Danish word for “mill”. In the past, mølle might have been used to refer to household items like the coffee grinder. It’s now become the reserve of larger pieces of machinery like windmills (vindmølle), but there is stills a bit of interchangeability in Swedish, a sister tongue of Danish.

If you’re in Skåne – the Swedish province closet to Denmark — the word for “mill” in the local dialect is not kvarn but mölla.

Why do I need to know kværn?

The above describes how to use kværn as a noun, but it’s also a verb, at kværne, meaning “to grind” or “to mill”.

Apart from everyday uses like jeg kværner kaffebønnerne (”I’ll grind some coffee beans”), you won’t hear it too often in its literal sense, but it has a lot of figurative meanings too.

For example jeg var så sulten, at jeg kværnede maden uden at sige et ord means ”I was so hungry I gobbled down (literally ’crushed’ or ’ground’) the food without saying a word”.

This can also apply to drinking: han sad og kværnede bajere hele aftenen (“he sat there downing beers all evening”).

It can also be used to describe working very hard, as in jeg skal bare kværne, indtil projektet er færdig (“I have to keep grafting until the project is finished”).

Finally if someone kværner bare løs, it probably means they are talking non-stop.

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