Swedish word of the day: läslov

Läslov is the new-ish name for Sweden's autumn break, formerly known as höstlov (literally 'autumn break').

It literally means 'reading break' and the idea was introduced by the government back in 2016. The goal of the rebrand was to draw attention to the importance of reading and literacy, and encourage Swedish children to spend at least some of the week off reading, in a similar way to the February break which is known as sportlov (sport break).

The government invested five million kronor in initiatives aimed at promoting reading, following declining scores in international literacy tests.

The word lov is the term commonly used to refer to Swedish school vacations: sommarlov, jullov, and påsklov (summer vacation, Christmas vacation and Easter vacation). According to the Language Council of Sweden, the term's application dates back to the 1600s and means that a student has permission to miss school.

• Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local’s app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button

It's related to the English noun 'leave', and the link to vacation is clear if you think about 'leaving a place' or the noun 'a leave of absence'. In Swedish, lov has two main other meanings: praise and permission.

Example sentences:

Läslovet kan vara ett tillfälle för elever att hitta sin läslust.

The reading break can be an opportunity for students to find their love of reading.

Vi har läslov nästa vecka.

We have reading break next week.