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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: jordgubbe

If there's one thing Swedes can't get enough of in summer, it's these.

Published: 17 June 2024 10:57 CEST
the word jordgubbe written on a blackboard next to the swedish flag
They're tiny, red and bring joy to the hearts of Swedes. Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Jordgubbe is made up of two words: jord and gubbe.

Jord means earth or soil, and it’s also used in Swedish for Planet Earth.

It’s easy to assume that jordgubbe means “earth man”, gubbe on its own being a common word for referring to a male person (usually gubbe refers to someone either very young or very old, and it can be either affectionate or derogatory, depending on the context).

But this is wrong.

  • 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

Gubbe is also a Swedish dialect word used to refer to a small lump, so jordgubbe literally means “a small lump that grows in the earth” – more accurate, but less romantic than picturing strawberries as tiny little men who live in our garden and are to be picked and eaten with whipped cream… now that we think about it, “small lump” is probably better.

Strawberries were introduced to Sweden in the second half of the 18th century and were originally called ananassmultron due to their Latin name (Fragaria x ananassa).

The word jordgubbe has existed in the Swedish language since at least 1638, but was then the main name for musk strawberries, later known as parksmultron in Swedish.

Jordgubbar are one of the staple foods on Midsummer’s Eve and Swedes are convinced that they grow the best strawberries in the world.

Example sentences:

Polisen misstänker att gängkriminella har infiltrerat jordgubbsindustrin

Police suspect that gang criminals have infiltrated the strawberry industry

Goda jordgubbar! Är de svenska eller belgiska?

Yummy strawberries! Are they Swedish or Belgian?

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.

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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: vädra

This word looks similar to the word for weather, väder, but the meaning is slightly different.

Published: 28 June 2024 12:06 CEST
Swedish word of the day: vädra

Vädra is a word you’ll hear a lot in Sweden during the spring and summer in particular. It’s the verbal form of väder, the word for weather, and refers to airing out or ventilating a room.

Väder originally comes from the Old Swedish term veðr and is related to the equivalent words in many other languages: English “weather”, German Wetter, Danish vejr, and Dutch weer, to name a few.

In older forms of most of these languages, including Swedish, väder was used specifically to refer to windy and/or rainy weather, which is where vädra comes from.

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

You can use vädra in a few different ways. It can describe opening a window to replace old, stale air with fresh air, and it can similarly be used to refer to hanging something outside, like clothing or bedding, to freshen it up.

Swedes often consider it important to vädra, with good air quality believed to be important for health, so don’t be surprised if you see your Swedish friends or family airing out their homes and letting cold, fresh air in even in the depths of winter.

You might also see vädra used more metaphorically to describe someone debating something, literally “airing out” their opinions. This is similar to “venting” in English, as well as the phrase “airing out your dirty laundry in public”, which usually refers to someone holding a discussion about something unpleasant or private in front of other people.

It also exists in the word väderkorn, which literally translates as “weather grain”, another word for your sense of smell (although most people would say luktsinne). You might say that a dog has utmärkt väderkorn, or use it figuratively to describe someone who is good at finding things out, similar to “sniffing out” a good story.

Example sentences:

Usch, vi behöver vädra härinne, det luktar unket.

Ugh, we need to air this room out, it smells musty.

Väljarna vädrade sitt missnöje med regeringen.

The voters aired out their dissatisfaction with the government.

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.
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