Swedish

How to spell swedish

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce swedish

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does swedish mean?

1. adjectiveOf or relating to Sweden, its people, or its culture.
2. nounThe North Germanic language spoken in Sweden and parts of Finland.

Swedish in a sentence

• adjective

  The furniture had a clean swedish design with pale wood.

• noun

  He studied swedish for a year before moving to Gothenburg.

• adjective

  She booked a flight with a swedish airline for the trip to Stockholm.

• noun

  The instructions were printed in both English and swedish.

Where does swedish come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from Swede, the name for a person from Sweden, plus the common English suffix -ish, which means 'belonging to' or 'in the manner of'. The underlying place name Sweden derives ultimately from the Old Norse Svithjod, formed from the tribal name of the Svear people who lived in what is now central Sweden, joined to a word for 'people' or 'nation'. The Svear name itself is thought to relate to an old Germanic root meaning 'one's own' or 'kin', so the country was in effect named for 'our own people'. The -ish ending is the same native suffix found in English, British, and Spanish, which is why the spelling stays simple even though the country name ends in -en. English has used Swedish since the 1500s as both the adjective for the nation and the name of its North Germanic language.

How the word is built

• Swede (a person from Sweden)
• -ish (adjective suffix meaning 'of or relating to')