svartsjuk

Swedish

Etymology

Compound of svart (“black”) +‎ sjuk (“sick, ill”), a reference to bära svarta strumpor (“to be jealous”, literally “to wear black stockings”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Adjective

svartsjuk (comparative svartsjukare, superlative svartsjukast)

1. (romantically) jealous

   Synonyms: (colloquial) sotis, (colloquial) svartis

Usage notes

Usually of romantic jealousy (like being (overly) worried about infidelity). More rarely of other kinds of jealousy that involve feeling that one is getting less attention than desired from the other person.

Declension

Inflection of svartsjuk

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	svartsjuk	svartsjukare	svartsjukast
neuter singular	svartsjukt	svartsjukare	svartsjukast
plural	svartsjuka	svartsjukare	svartsjukast
masculine plural2	svartsjuke	svartsjukare	svartsjukast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	svartsjuke	svartsjukare	svartsjukaste
all	svartsjuka	svartsjukare	svartsjukaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Related terms

• svartsjuka

See also

• avund
• avundsjuk
• avundsjuka

References

• svartsjuk in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• svartsjuk in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• svartsjuk in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• svartsjuk in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)