fanden

Danish

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

fanden c

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

Declension

Adverb

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?

Synonyms

• helvede

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfandn̩/, /ˈfandən/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

fanden

1. first/third-person plural preterite of finden

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• faen
• fan (used in juxtapositions)

Etymology

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

Proper noun

fanden m

1. (Christianity) devil

   Synonym: Satan

Derived terms

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

Interjection

fanden

1. used as an expletive to express displeasure

References

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