Last year, I started a list of Swedish words for snow and lost energy at 25. This year, as the snow tanks down outside and the cities are hit with ‘snow chaos’, I decided to expand the list from 25 to 50!
Not surprisingly when living in a country where it snows a lot, people start to see differences and nuances in the type of snow, whereas in English the word might just be an unsatisfactory ‘snow’. The Swedish language makes it easy to join words together to describe these nuances.
Here is a list of 50 Swedish words related to snow.
1) Blötsnö – wet, slushy snow
2) Drivsnö – snow that is blown into troublesome snow drifts
3) Aprilsnö – snow in April, according to suspicion signifies plenty of food for the coming season
4) Hårdsnö – compacted hard snow
5) Konstsnö – artificial snow
6) Kramsnö – squeezy snow, perfect for making snowballs
7) Julesnö – snow at Christmas
8) Klabbsnö – wet, warm snow for building snowmen
9) Kolsyresnö – frozen carbondioxide
10) Kornsnö – small white snow breadcrumbs
11) Lappvante – thick, falling snow
12) Lössnö – snow that can loosen and be dangerous
13) Majsnö – surprising and unwelcome snow in May
14) Modd – snow that has partly melted due to salt
15) Natursnö – real snow (as opposed to artificial)
16) Nysnö – fresh snow, crisp and white
17) Pudersnö – powder snow
18) Rekordsnö – an unusual amount of snow, breaking previous snow records
19) Slask – slushy snow mixed with rain and dirt on the ground
20) Snö – snow
21) Snöblandat regn – snow mixed with rain
22) Muohta – the Sami word for snow (it is said the Sami actually have 200 words for snow!)
23) Snörök – faint particles of snow that look like smoke
24) Yrsnö – snow being whipped around by the wind in all directions
25) Åsksnö – snow that pours down during a thunder storm
26) Snökanon – a sudden blast of snow that suddenly hits a place, and feels like snow has been dumped on you
27) Jungfrusnö – virgin snow
28) Snösmocka – a huge amount of snow
29) Snötäcke – snow on the ground
30) Sjösnö – snow over the sea that can roll in over land
31) Snöfall – snow in the air
32) Flingsnö – snow with larger crystals
33) Skarsnö – a crispy surface on a blanket of snow
34) Packsnö – thickly packed snow
35) Pärlsnö – snow like small pearls that hurts when it hits your face
36) Snöglopp – wet snow mixed with rain
37) Spårsnö – snow that allows footprints to be formed
38) Fjöcksnö – a light, fluffy snow
39) Flister – snow the consistency of salt that stings the face when it falls
40) Flaksnö – a sheet of snow
41) Upplega – snow on the upper side of a tree branch
42) Firn – liquid-like snow that can initiate an avalanche
43) Fimmel – sandy snow that falls at low temperatures
44) Själja – a thin layer of ice on top of the snow that resembles glass
45) Knarrsnö – crispy snow that creaks when you walk on it
46) Snöfyk – wet snow
47) Torrsnö – dry snow
48) Månsilver – a poetic word to describe the dusting of snow
49) Snöis – snow on cold water that forms an icy solid surface
50) Stöp – a mixture of snow and ice resembling porridge that forms on top of cold water
There’s one stereotype of Swedes that seems like it will never go away – the stereotype that Swedes are sexually liberated. This impression started after the wave of Swedish films that came out in the 1960’s and which were considered erotic by the rest of the world. Equal gender rights, contraception, abortion rights and a relaxed attitude to nudity have reinforced this stereotype. Perpetuating it further over the decades is the regular supply of seductive and physically attractive Swedes in the media – Britt Ekland, Ulrika Jonsson, Anita Ekberg, Maud Adams, Dolph Lundgren, Victoria Silvstedt, Alexander Skarsgård to name a few.
Watching the Swedes 