käft
See also: kæft
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
From Old Swedish kiæpter, from Old Norse kjaptr. Cognate with Danish kæft, Norwegian kjeft, Icelandic kjaftur, and Faroese kjaftur.
Noun edit
käft c
- a jaw or (open) mouth of an animal (especially one with a powerful bite)
- Synonym: (jaw of a human or animal) käke
- hajens käftar
- the jaws of the shark
- Hunden hade ett ben i käften
- The dog had a bone in its mouth
- (colloquial, mildly offensive) a mouth of a human
- Synonym: mun (“mouth”)
- slå någon på käften
- punch someone in the face (or "mouth," literally – aggressive-sounding)
- slänga käft
- talk (literally "throw jaw")
- vara slängd i käften
- be quick to answer, have the gift of gab (literally "be thrown in the jaw")
- att låta käften gå
- to keep talking
- (colloquial, in the expression "inte en käft") a person
Usage notes edit
(sense 2) conjures the image of animal jaws, giving it a colloquial and mildly offensive (or jocular) feeling. This plays into making håll käften very rude, as it's telling someone to keep their animalistic jaws shut.
Declension edit
| Declension of käft | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | käft | käften | käftar | käftarna |
| Genitive | käfts | käftens | käftars | käftarnas |
Derived terms edit
See also edit
Interjection edit
käft
- shut up (short for håll käften)
- Synonym: käften
Usage notes edit
Can take on a jocular tone, which is rare for the harsher håll käften.