svær

See also: svär and svär-

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /svɛːˀr/, [ˈsʋ̥ɛˀɐ̯], [ˈsʋ̥ɛɐ̯ˀ], [ˈsʋ̥æɐ̯ˀ]
• Homophone: sværd

Etymology 1

From Old Norse svǫrðr m, from Proto-Germanic *swarduz (“rind, turf”), cognate with Norwegian Bokmål svor, Swedish svål, English sward. The Danish form has the vowel of the plural (sverðir).

Noun

svær c (singular definite sværen, plural indefinite svær)

1. rind
2. crackling

Declension

Declension of svær

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	svær	sværen	svær	sværene
genitive	sværs	sværens	sværs	sværenes

Derived terms

• flæskesvær
• grønsvær

Etymology 2

From Old Danish swar, from Old Norse svárr, from Proto-Germanic *swēraz, cognate with Swedish svår, German schwer, Dutch zwaar, Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴𐍂𐍃 (swērs). The vowel of the modern Danish form is probably due to German influence. Doublet of svar.

Adjective

svær (neuter svært, plural and definite singular attributive svære)

1. difficult, hard, stiff, tough
2. (now rare) heavy, massive, solid
3. severe
4. portly, stout

Inflection

Inflection of svær

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	svær	sværere	sværest2
indefinite neuter singular	svært	sværere	sværest2
plural	svære	sværere	sværest2
definite attributive1	svære	sværere	sværeste

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Perhaps from a side form to Old Norse svárr (“hard, heavy”)

Adjective

svær (masculine and feminine svær, neuter svært, definite singular and plural svære)

1. heavy, massive, huge, large, tremendous

References

• “svær” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “svær_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Perhaps from a side form to Old Norse svárr (“hard, heavy”), or from Middle Low German schwer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʂʋæːr/

Adjective

svær (neuter svært, definite singular and plural svære, comparative sværare, indefinite superlative sværast, definite superlative sværaste)

1. big, massive; huge

   Dyret var svært.

   The animal was massive.

2. unusual

   Det var då svært so lang tid dette skulle ta.

   This took unusually long.

Related terms

• svært

References

• “svær” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.