fy

phew, shame; interjection expressing disapproval or disgust


nei

From Old Norse nei, from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”), from Proto-Indo-European *ne, *nē, *nēy (negative particle).

no (used to show disagreement or negation)


ciao

From Italian ciao, from Venetan sciavo (“slave”), from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”). This in turn is from Late Latin Sclavus (“Slav”), from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos), from Proto-Slavic *slověninъ, as Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages. Doublet of slave and slavar.


amen

Ultimately from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”).


ut

From Old Norse út, from Proto-Germanic *ūt. Akin to English out.


bu

boo! Used to indicate derision or disapproval.


prosit

Borrowed from Latin prōsit (“may it be good”), the third-person singular present active subjunctive of prōsum (“be good”)

bor+

bless you! exclamation said to someone who has just sneezed


fitte

Uncertain, possibly related to Old Norse fita (“greasy fluid, fat”) or Old Norse fit (“meadowy plain adjacent to lake”) or more possible to Old Norse fitje (“rift in rock, cliff”) according to Wikipedia.no. Related to Swedish fitta.

(strongly vulgar) an expletive used to express displeasure; fuck!


å

From Old Norse ó, was used in the same sense.

aa

Etymologies 2-6, obsolete typography (pre-1917)

Å, er det du?

Å gud, for eit dårleg vêr det er!

Å skitt, du er i trøbbel!

Å, ver so snill, kan vi kje dra?

Used to make the message more urgent, pleading, or to underline it; oh

Å ja, seier du det?

Kva skjedde? Å, ingenting.

Å, eg er ikkje so sikker på det


ditto

From older Italian ditto. Doublet of diktum.


helvete

Helvete, kva gjekk galt?

Faen i helvete!

Dra til helvete!

Kva i helvetet er det du vil?


satan

Satan! Det gjer vondt!

Satan då!


hei

hei!


hu

From Old Norse hú, originally onomatopoeic.


hau

used to express fear, rejection, and so on


så

From Old Norse svá, from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē. Akin to English so.

used (often with reduplication) to confort or calm

used (often with reduplication) to admonish

Eg er så liten, så!

used after an indicative sentence to intensify


ve

From Old Norse vei, væ, from Proto-Germanic *wai.


heil

From Old Norse heill, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). Akin to English whole.


quod erat demonstrandum

quod erat demonstrandum
quod erat demonstrandum#English


skål

From Old Norse skál, from Proto-Germanic *skēlō.


no

From Old Norse núna, derived from nú.
(interjection): May be related to Finno-Ugric, like Finnish and Estonian no, Ingrian no, Komi-Zyrian но (no), Udmurt но (no). Compare also Swedish nå, Latvian nu and Russian ну (nu).

Der maa no vera nokot smaatt fint Gras imillom, som Femulen finner, for ellers kunde der ikki bu annat Liv enn Reinsdyret.

1861, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Ferdaminni fraa Sumaren 1860:

There must be some small fine grass in between for the cattle to find, otherwise no other life than the reindeer could live there.

Gakk no deg i Stova inn

1851, Ludvig Mathias Lindeman, Liti Kjersti og bergekongen (transcription of an oral song):

Det kan no faen ikkje stemme at traktor'n var så billeg

It can't be damn right that the tractor was so cheap

Er det no sånn at dåkk vil ikkje bli med på fjellturen?

Is it so, that ya'll don't want to join on the mountain trip?

Eg skulle no vore på elgjakta no, men i staden for det må eg vera her og rydde.

I was supposed to be on the moose hunt now, but I must be here and clean up instead.

Kom igjen no då!

used when finding something out; when being irritated


tja

Tja, eg veit ikkje om dét er nokon god idé.

Well...I am not sure if that is a good idea.

used to express uncertainty; hm; well; compare nja


faen

Contraction of fanden (“the Devil”), from late Old Norse fendinn, perhaps from Frisian with the original meaning "the tempter, he who tempts". Compare Old Norse fjándinn (“the enemy”), definite of fjándi (“enemy, foe, devil”). Cognate with Danish fanden and Swedish fan. See also djevel.

Fy faen!

Faen ta deg!

Fuck you!, Damn you! (literally, May the devil take you!)

Det var som faen!

Ikkje faen!


heia

Heia! heia! heia!

Heia Norge!

Encouraging shout used in competitions to spur the athletes on.


gakk

Onomatopoeic of the sound a goose makes.


fokk

pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(slang, vulgar) pronunciation spelling of fuck.


kanon

Borrowed from Swedish kanon (attested in Swedish at least since early 1930-s).

– No har me vore på besøk åt ho mormor og hjelpt ho med å få inn oppvaskmaskina.
– Kanon!
– Now we have visited the grandmother and helped her to get the dishwasher inside (the house).
– Good job!


halleluja

From Biblical Hebrew הַלְלוּיָהּ (hal'luyáh, “Praise Yah”).


jøss

From a colloquial pronunciation of Jesus.


jøsses

Nei jøsses! — ein kunde ikkje venta, at barnet skulde kunna nokot.

No, sheesh! — one could not expect the child to be able to do anything.

Jøss, tenk deg, tenkte guten. / Jøsses, sku' du sett! / Ein fugl som snakkar nynorsk / er ikkje vanlig nett!

2013, Arnt Birkedal, Arnt Birkedal. Dikt I utval, Wigestrand forlag, →ISBN:

Jeesh, to think, the guy thought. / Sheesh, you should have seen it! / A bird speaking Norwegian Nynorsk / is unusually neat!


adjø

From French adieu, from à Dieu, "to God", in the sense "may God be with you." Same origin as Swedish adjö and Danish adjø. Compare Spanish adiós.

Adjø, då!

Adjø så lenge.


niks

From Low German niks (“nothing”) and German nichts.


vov

arf (Representing the sound of a dog's bark.)


vrinsk

From vrinske, from dialectal vrine (“neigh coarsely”). Compare Dutch wrensen (“to neigh, whinny”).

(onomatopoeia) The sharp neigh of a horse.


kva

From Old Norse hvat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód, *kʷod. Akin to English what.

ka

Southern Hordaland, bracket form between 1938 and 1959

kå

Hallingmål, Sognamål, Setesdal dialect, Gudbrandsdal, Meldal


lø

Borrowed from Arabic لَا (lā, “no, not”), itself from Proto-Semitic *lā.


særleg

From Old Norse sérligr. Cf. Danish and Norwegian Bokmål særlig. Related to Swedish särskilt, but the Swedish word is never used as an interjection.

Trur du verkeleg han vil gje att alle pengane han lånte frå ho? Ja, særleg!

Do you really reckon he will give back all the money he borrowed from her? Yeah, right!


fanden

Likely borrowed from Frisian fannen, fannjen, fännen (“tempter”). Possibly through Danish.

used as an expletive to express displeasure


sjø

Contraction of ser du? (“do you see?”) or skjønner du (“y'know”)

Æ veit ikkj, sjø.

Ho kainn det sjø, men no e ho klar som faen.

She can it, y'know, but now she is exhausted as hell.

Det va itj mæ, sjø.

rhetorical question
rhetorical question#English

(dialectal, Trøndelag dialect) Used as a rhetorical question to confirm agreement or understanding at the end of a statement.


forsvinn

From Norwegian Nynorsk svinne (“to disappear, vanish”), from Proto-Germanic *swindaną. Cognate with Swedish försvinn. More at English swind.


pinade

A minced oath of Jesu pine og død (“Jesus' pain and death”).

(colloquial, euphemistic) Expressing dismay or discontent


føkk

From English fuck, with phonetic Norwegian spelling.


huttemegtu

/hʉtəːmeːɡtʉː/


huttetu

Huttetu for ein stad!

used to express a sense of physical cold or something psychologically chilling or otherwise unpleasant; brr


gudskjelov

Equivalent to gud (“god”) + skje (“happen”) + lov (“law”). Compare Danish and Swedish gudskelov (used at least since 16 century).


altso

From German also, influenced by alt. False friend of English also, although being etymologically related to it. Compare also Swedish alltså.

No må me fara altso

Neimen altso!.. Igjen?

(filler word, intensifier, often in the end of a sentence) though


herregud

Herregud, for noko tull dette er.


bø

boo! (a loud exclamation intended to scare someone)


æsj

Æsj! For noko skit!


skitt

Å, skitt.


hå

Used to express emotion, such as wonder, pride, joy, derision, resignation, or lament.

(also nautical) Used to make people pull at the same time.

Hå! Hå! Hå! Den var god.

(often with reduplication) Used to display laughter


søren

an expletive used to express displeasure; damn!


hosianna

Ultimately from Biblical Hebrew הוֹשַׁע נָא (hōsha‘ nā, “please save”).


vips

From Middle Low German wips. Related to vipp and vippe.


halloi

A Blend of hallo (“hello”) + hoi and ohoi and similar interjections.


snipp

snipp snapp snute
snipp snapp snute#Norwegian_Nynorsk

Used only in the formula snipp snapp snute


ko-ko

Ultimately onomatopoeic. The adjective is under influence of English cuckoo.


fettnais

The first part fett is similar to Swedish slang fett (“very”) also common in Norwegian. The second part nais is from English nice.

fettnajs

spelling way which is similar to Swedish


vi sest

Similar to Swedish vi ses, Faroese vit síggjast and Danish vi ses


kom igjen

Kom igjen no då, din treigost!


kjære vene

/ˈɕæːrə ˈvɛːnə/

Nei men kjære vene, ikkje no igjen!


inga årsak

/ɪŋːa ɔːʂaːk/

Literally, “no cause”. Similar to Faroese eingin orsøk, Swedish ingen orsak, Norwegian Bokmål ingen årsak and Danish ingen årsag.

it's nothing (response to a “thank you”)


det var så lite

Literally, “it was so little”. Similar to Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish det var så lite, also Danish det var så lidt, Icelandic það var lítið and Faroese tað var so lítið.

it's nothing, you're welcome (response to a “thank you”)


stopp en hal

From Dutch stop en haal or English stop and haul .


me sjåast

Literally, “we will be seeing (eachother)”. From newer speech, probably a calque from Norwegian Bokmål vi ses. The form sjåast (instead of expected sest) is not same as passive sjåast, but is derived from the infinitive form of the verb sjå, while the traditional way derives it from present (ser).

lit

(nonstandard) Alternative form of vi sest