False friendFeelings
Swedish
SwedishRar
Meaning: Actually means 'sweet' or 'kind'. En rar person is a lovely person. (In Norwegian, rar means 'strange' — another Nordic pair that split.)
Looks like: Rare
Origin: Swedish uses it affectionately, Norwegian for oddity; the two languages took the same adjective in opposite directions, much like rolig.
More Swedish false friends
- Grind Actually means 'gate' — the garden or field kind. To grind is mala.
- Stol Actually means 'chair' — any chair, backrest included. A stool is en pall.
- Fart Actually means 'speed' or 'momentum'. Full fart = full speed ahead.
- Bra Actually means 'good'. Det är bra = That's good.
- Glass Actually means 'ice cream'. En glass = an ice cream. For a glass (vessel), say ett glas.
- Semester Actually means 'holiday' or 'vacation'. A school semester is en termin.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Flyg, fula fluga, flyg! Och den fula flugan flög. An 'fl' cluster repeated through three different vowels — y, u and ö, all of them front r…
- Sex laxar i en laxask. A short 'x/lax/ks' crunch — Swedish's 'x' sounds like 'ks', which doubles the trap.
- Sju sjösjuka sjömän skötte sjuttiosju sjösjuka sjölejon på skeppet Shanghai. An unstoppable 'sj/sk/sh' onslaught — the Swedish sj-sound (a unique voiceless fricative)…
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