jiddra

Swedish

Etymology

From an older slang sense ’to live’, from Tavringer Romani jida, jiddra (“to live”), cf. jidrepa (“life”), from Romani džiw- (“to live”). Related to Sanskrit जीवति (jīvati, “to live”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²jɪdra/
• Rhymes: -²ɪdra

Verb

jiddra (present jiddrar, preterite jiddrade, supine jiddrat, imperative jiddra)

1. (colloquial) to talk with more or less meaningless content

   Äh, sluta jiddra!

   Meh, stop spewing nonsense!

2. (colloquial, by extension) to mess, to argue (engage in more-or-less meaningless arguing or cheeky banter or the like)

   Jiddra inte med Olle!

   Don't mess with Olle!

   Det är ingen idé att jiddra med utkastarna

   It's no point arguing with the bouncers

   • 2016, Kristin Nord, “Kranvattnets konnässörer”, in Sydsvenskan‎^[1]:

     Jag slutade jiddra med den stackars servitrisen där på krogen och pröjsade till slut.

     I stopped messing/arguing with the poor waitress there at the pub and finally paid.

Conjugation

Conjugation of jiddra (weak)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	jiddra		jiddras
Supine	jiddrat		jiddrats
Imperative	jiddra		—
Imper. plural1	jiddren		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	jiddrar	jiddrade	jiddras	jiddrades
Ind. plural1	jiddra	jiddrade	jiddras	jiddrades
Subjunctive2	jiddre	jiddrade	jiddres	jiddrades
	Participles
Present participle	jiddrande
Past participle	—
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Related terms

• jidder

References

• jiddra in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• Gerd Carling (2005) “jidder”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 84