giffel

Swedish

gifflar

Alternative forms

• gyffel (obsolete spelling)

Etymology

Borrowed from German Gipfel (“peak; summit”) or Austrian German Gipfel (“type of vienna bread”). First attested in 1890.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (hard g) /ˈɡɪfɛl/, (soft g) /ˈjɪfɛl/

• Audio (Småland); /ˈɡɪfɛl/:

  (file)

• Audio (Småland); /ˈjɪfɛl/:

  (file)

Noun

giffel c

1. A crescent-shaped pastry (made of e.g. sweet yeast dough, puff pastry, or shortcrust pastry)
   • 2022 January 30, “I dag är det croissantens dag [Today is croissant day]”, in Barometern:

     Bakverket [croissant] kommer från Frankrike och görs traditionellt på smördeg som formas till en halvmåne eller giffel. Ibland fylls de med exempelvis choklad.

     The pastry [croissant] originates from France and is traditionally made from puff pastry shaped into a half-moon or crescent. Sometimes they are filled with, for example, chocolate.

   • 2025 January 31, Camilla Biesbjerg Markussen, “Pizzagifflar [Pizza pockets]”, in Anna Rosenqvist, transl., Baka riktigt gott bröd, Tønsberg, Norway: Orage AS, page 67:

     Mjuka och välsmakande pizzagifflar, fyllda med tomatsås, mozzarella och kokt skinka.

     Soft and delicious pizza pockets, filled with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and cooked ham.

   1. A crescent-shaped cinnamon roll.
   2. (dated) Synonym of croissant (“croissant”)
      • 1947 March 19, Arbetaren‎^[1], page 4:

        I hörnan mot rue Montmartre ligger ett litet kafé, som kallas Croissant (vilket närmast betyder giffel) och där kan man på en marmorplatta läsa: ”Här mördades [...]

        In the corner by rue Montmartre lies a small café called Croissant (which roughly means crescent roll), and there one can read on a marble plaque: "Here was murdered [...]

References

• giffel in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)