Comments on: The Joy of Faen & Other Norwegian Swear Words

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 13 May 2026 19:04:50 +0000

In reply to Bente. I've been to Norway 3 times and know just a few words of Norwegian. Something I learned from my friend who lives there is the huge number of dialects in different regions of Norway and each region stubbornly refuse to back off from their dialect. Is this true of swear words as well?

By: Bea Berrettini

Bea Berrettini — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 21:26:53 +0000

I’m of Norwegian descent in the US, but grew up hearing “Fy” , not sure of the spelling, used to express varying degrees of dislike, disapproval or disgust. I use it, but I’m not sure how it translates.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 07:08:04 +0000

Fyttirakkern stems from “fy til rakkeren” or to spit at the “rakker”. Rakker was the person who was the assistant to the executioner and who removed the body after a suicide. He also emptied the toilets at night and performed castration on animals. The word “rakkerunge” means the kid of the rakker and it became forbidden to use in the late 1600, because the “rakker” or “nattmannen” (night-man) was important for the community and needed protection. In modern Norway rakker-unge is used both in positive and negative terms and points to a (positive) mildly mischievous child or (negative) a kid who is being a general pain in the lower parts of the back.

By: Bjørn

Bjørn — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 13:04:45 +0000

Good article , but you left out the juicy swear words that are common in Northern Norway.

By: Sherry-Lynn

Sherry-Lynn — Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:47:28 +0000

Mamma’s favourite was “kyss meg på ræva”. Dad used a few Norsk/ Engelsk combinations which were highly entertaining as we grew old enough to know what they meant.

By: Per Gunnar Flø

Per Gunnar Flø — Tue, 30 May 2023 22:08:02 +0000

You forgot “hestkuk” = horse-dick.

By: Bente

Bente — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:38:02 +0000

I don’t currently live in Norway so I’m not up on all the latest slang and such. I pick up what I can on my visits but I learned to speak Norwegian as a young child over 60 years ago.
One of my favorite go to curses is faen ta. Is that still in use?

By: KABerg

KABerg — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:09:25 +0000

Possibly a Fy fasan drawn out, a mild euphemism for “Fie, the devil”.
Øshling is probably usling, literally”wretch”, but with worse connotations of despicable. craven and untrustworthy.

By: KABerg

KABerg — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:08:39 +0000

In reply to Dale. Possibly a Fy fasan drawn out, a mild euphemism for "Fie, the devil". Øshling is probably usling, literally"wretch", but with worse connotations of despicable. craven and untrustworthy.

By: Dale

Dale — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 17:16:23 +0000

Here are a couple that my grandfather used, but I never knew what they meant. Maybe they will sound familiar to a Norwegian speaker.
1. Sounded like “fy fos og en.” All spoken together, of course.
2. Sounded like “øschling.” This one was a noun, something that I gathered that is was insulting to be called.