Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by Danes, the people of Denmark. Like Norwegian words and Swedish words, Danish words are peculiar to their culture meaning you won’t find them in English. Here’s a round-up of the beautiful Danish words that have no translation.
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Beautiful Danish Words
Here are some of the cool words in Danish that you can try out in conversation and impress people 🙂
Let’s start with how to say hello in Danish!
Hej (n.)
Pronunciation: hi
Meaning: Hi, Hello
Hej is the most commonly used casual greeting in Danish. You can use it in any situation and with anyone from strangers to friends. Hej Hej means goodbye in Danish.
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Speciallægepraksisplanlægningsstabilliseringsperiode
Pronunciation: speciallæge-praksisplanlægnings-stabiliseringsperiode
Meaning: Literally translates to a period of stabilizing the planning of a specialist doctor’s practice
Made up of 51 letters, it’s the longest word in Danish!
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Hygge (n.)
Pronunciation: hue-gah
Meaning: An atmosphere of warmth, wellbeing, and coziness when you feel at peace and able to enjoy simple pleasures and being in the moment.
Scandinavian countries enjoy the simple pleasures in life. They all have a word to define the simple joys. Danish have hygge, Swedish have mys, Norwegians have kos, and Finnish have kalsarikannit 🙂
Hygge gains so much popularity across the globe that this Danish word is added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 2017.
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Forelsket (adj.)
Pronunciation: for-el-skit
Meaning: Being madly in love – an ineffable euphoria experienced when one’s enamored with someone.
Norwegians too use the word forelsket to define the similar feeling.
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Bagstiv (adj.)
Pronunciation: bag-stiv
Meaning: Waking up still drunk from the night before, Hungover
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Hils (n.)
Pronunciation: hils
Meaning: When Danes tell someone to give regards or say hello to the third person, they just say hils. e.g. I’ll be meeting Amanda today. Okay, hils.
Short and sweet. Isn’t it?
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Arbejdsglæde (n.)
Pronunciation: ahh-bites-gle-the
Meaning: Happiness at work, Job satisfaction, Work pleasure
You are incredibly lucky if you have a job that makes you happy 🙂 Arbejdsglæde is super important as it leads to success.
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Sympatisk (adj.)
Pronunciation: sym-pat-isk
Meaning: Likeable, Friendly, Nice, Trust-worthy
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Uoverskuelig (adj.)
Pronunciation: over·skuelig
Meaning: When Danes don’t know where to start or are unable to deal with the task at hand, they use this word.
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Træls (adj.)
Pronunciation: trels
Meaning: Annoying, Grueling, Tiresome, Disappointing, Nuisance, Inconvenient
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Overmorgen (n.)
Pronunciation: aw-mawgen
Meaning: the day after tomorrow
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Forgårs (n.)
Pronunciation: faw-gaws
Meaning: the day before yesterday
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Tanketorsk (n.)
Pronunciation: tan-ke-to-sg
Meaning: Literally translates to thought cod. Used to describe a thoughtless action or gaffe or a statement made without considering the consequences.
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Velbekomme (interj.)
Pronunciation: velbe-komme
Meaning: Telling someone to enjoy their meal. What bon appetit is to French, velbekomme is to Danes.
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Orke (v.)
Pronunciation: ok
Meaning: It means that you can’t be bothered to do something or that you don’t have the strength or energy for it.
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Jo (n.)
Pronunciation: yo
Meaning: Literally means yes but is only used in response to a negative question or statement. e.g. Did you not finish your homework yesterday? Jo, I finished it before going to the bed.
Do you have any fascinating and beautiful Danish words that you’d like us to add to this list of unique words from the Danish language?
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