11 new Swedish words introduced by the Swedish Language Council

Every year, the Swedish Language Council, Språkrådet – a department within Institute of Language and Folklore, publishes a list of new words that have entered the Swedish language and is being actively used by the general public. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the words on the list this year include words related to the pandemic.

According to the Institute of Languages and Folklore, it is normal for technical terms to become a part of the everyday language among the general population during a crisis.

Anders Svensson, Editor-in-Chief at Språktidningen says: “Many of these words have been established since long in technical language. During the corona pandemic, a long list of medical terms suddenly became part of the everyday language. That is why they are considered new words for the general public.”

The 2020 list consists of 39 new words, but we saved you the trouble and picked out some of the more exciting ones:

boomer

a middle-aged, or older, person

cancelkultur

activism aimed at depriving people with controversial views of their platforms for expressing those views

coronaanpassa

to take preventive measures to comply with restrictions aimed at minimizing the risk of spreading the coronavirus

coronahälsning

a gesture of greeting that was made popular during the corona pandemic

hobbyepidemiolog

a person, who without expert knowledge in epidemiology, confidently speaks about the corona pandemic

infodemi

the global spreads of harmful rumors

simp

a person who, through flattery, tries to arouse another person’s romantic or sexual interest

novent

Christmas preperations and Advent-like celebrations in November

superspridare

a person who spreads a disease to a large number of people

turistkorridor

an agreement that enables holiday travel between countries where the spread of infection are at low levels

Zoombombning

intrusion by uninvited participants in a meeting held through the video conferencing service Zoom

To see the rest of the words featured on the list, visit Nyordslistan 2020 here.