fanden

From Old Danish fanden, fænden, probably borrowed from Old Frisian fandiand, a present participle of fandia (“to tempt”), from Proto-Germanic *fandōną (“to find out”), cognate with Old English fandian (“to try, tempt”), German fahnden (“to search”).

Late Old Norse fendinn, Norwegian faen, and Swedish fan are also borrowed, probably via Old Danish, from Frisian.

• IPA^(key): , (as an adverb also) IPA^(key):

fanden c

1. (Christianity) devil, Satan
2. devil (a mean person)

fanden

1. (vulgar) the hell, the devil (used with an interrogative or relative adverb)

   Hvordan fanden gjorde du det?

   How the hell did you do that?

   Har du fået talt med Christoffer, eller hvad fanden det nu var, han hed?

   Have you gotten around to speaking with Christoffer, or whatever the fuck his name was?

• helvede

• IPA^(key): /ˈfandn̩/, /ˈfandən/

• Audio:

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fanden

1. first/third-person plural preterite of finden

• faen
• fan (used in juxtapositions)

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

fanden m

1. (Christianity) devil

   Synonym: Satan

• (genitive) fandens
• (idiom) fanden og hans oldemor

fanden

1. used as an expletive to express displeasure

• “fanden” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• Cf. Norwegian Bokmål “fanden” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).