raggare

English

Etymology

From Swedish raggare, from ragga (“to drive around”), from dialectal term raga (“to stagger”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɡəɹə/

Noun

raggare (countable and uncountable, plural raggares or raggare)

1. Someone who is part of a subculture in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands concerned with American cars and music of the 1950s, comparable to greasers.
2. (uncountable) This subculture taken as a whole.

Swedish

en raggare som ligger på huven på en raggarbil (a raggare lying on the hood of a raggarbil)

Etymology

Compound of ragga +‎ -are (“verb→noun; -er”). From ragga (“flirt, hit-on”, verb), itself originally from haulage slang ragga (“drive log-waste”, verb), ultimately from ragg (“bristle, coarse stiff hair”).

Noun

raggare c

1. a raggare (member of the raggare subculture)
2. (by extension) someone (usually a man) trying to pick up (meet and seduce) somebody

   strandraggare ― person trying to pick up at the beach

Usage notes

Sometimes (jocularly) anglicized as ragger (plural raggers) by raggare, in line with a fascination with (retro) American culture.

Declension

Declension of raggare

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	raggare	raggares
	definite	raggaren	raggarens
plural	indefinite	raggare	raggares
	definite	raggarna	raggarnas

Derived terms

• blöjraggare
• raggarballe med svängdörr (“hot dog”)
• raggarbil (“[often] 1950s to 1970s full-size American V8 car”, literally “raggare car”)
• raggargäng (“a group of these”, literally “raggare gang”)
• raggarskåra (“exposed gluteal cleft”)
• raggarsträng (“abdominal line of hair, treasure trail”)
• strandraggare (“beach pickup artist”)

Related terms

• ragg
• ragga

See also

• doftgran (“evergreen-shaped air freshner”)
• dunka plåt (“to slap a car rhythmically to a music beat”, verb)
• pöka (“intercourse”, verb)

References

• raggare in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)