Fordøyes

Fordøyes is a verbal form found in Norwegian and, to a lesser extent, Danish, corresponding to the passive present tense of the verb fordøye, meaning to digest. In standard contemporary Norwegian, the passive sense is usually expressed with blir fordøyd or other periphrastic constructions, while fordøyes survives in some dialects and historical texts as meaning “is digested” or “is being digested.” In Danish, the equivalent passive present form is fordøjes.

Etymology and usage notes: The verb fordøye originates in the Scandinavian language family from earlier Germanic roots related to digestion, and fordøyes reflects a historical or dialectal passive inflection. Today it is mainly encountered in formal, scientific, or literary contexts, or in regional speech, rather than in everyday colloquial Norwegian.

Examples: Maten fordøyes i magen. Prosessen fordøyes over flere timer. By contrast, in everyday Norwegian speakers are more likely to say Maten blir fordøyd i magen. The form is therefore often described as archaic or dialectal in standard Norwegian.

Related terms: fordøyelse (digestion), fordøyd (digested). The notion of digestion as a biological process intersects with other terms in medical and scientific Norwegian, where more common expressions for passive digestion are preferred in modern usage.