Advertisement

Swedish word of the day: munsbit

Catherine Edwards
Catherine Edwards - [email protected]
Swedish word of the day: munsbit
Or should that say mumsbit? Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

This is a key piece of fika and food vocabulary.

Advertisement

En munsbit is how you might describe a small slice of cake, a handful of nuts, or a canapé.

In English, you could translate it as "a bite", "a mouthful" or the French term "amuse-bouche" and the food can be sweet or savoury, so it's an appropriate word whether you're out for fika, having tapas, or snacking throughout the day.

It's a compound word made up of mun (mouth) and bit, which can mean "piece" or "bit" in a general sense but often has a culinary connotation, linked to the verb bita (to bite). 

And munsbit has a metaphorical use too, so you might say that a useful nugget of information was en munsbit for a prosecutor, a politician, or researcher, for example. It can also refer to battles or conflicts in which one party easily defeats the other, often in sports: the losers are described as en munsbit for the victors – meaning it didn't take long to finish them off.

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

Munsbit is an old word, dating back to at least the early 18th century. But you'll hear a lot of Swedes use the word mumsbit in its place.

The Swedish word mums means "yum", and you also get the adjective mumsig (yummy), so because it can be hard to tell the difference between "n" and "m" in speech, and because "tasty morsel" makes logical sense, a lot of people think this is the original word.

Advertisement

In linguistics, this is called "folk etymology", a phenomenon when an old word is reanalysed using familiar words that make logical sense (another example is handburgare, a word used by some young Swedes instead of the dictionary-approved hamburgare, because, well, you often eat burgers using your hands).

Because language is determined by use and not by dictionaries, these days it's fair to say that mumsbit is a word in its own right (even Sweden's Language Council agrees on that). 

Examples

Det var en mumsig munsbit

That was a tasty snack

Italien en munsbit för Sverige

Italy easy pickings for Sweden (a typical sports headline)

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also