Förtro

Förtro is a Swedish linguistic stem used in forming words related to trust and confidence. It is not typically used as an independent word in modern Swedish; the common noun is förtroende, meaning trust or confidence. The related verb form is förtrösta, meaning to entrust or to place confidence in someone or something. Several derived nouns and compounds also exist, built from the same root.

Etymology and forms

The morpheme fö rtro- is a historical root that appears in multiple related words. It functions as the semantic core around which terms dealing with trust, reliance, and credibility are built. In contemporary usage, the full words often stand on their own (for eksempel förtroende, förtroendekapital), while förtro- serves as the common stem in these compounds.

Usage and examples

Common Swedish terms derived from the root förtro include:

- Förtroende, the standard noun for trust or confidence.

- Förtrösta, the verb meaning to entrust or to rely on.

- Förtroendekapital, a concept used in discussions of social or investor trust and its impact on organizations.

- Förtroendevalda, referring to elected representatives who are trusted by voters.

- Förtroendekris, a crisis of public trust or confidence.

Notes

Förtro as a stand-alone lexical item is rare outside scholarly or morphological discussions. In everyday language, most communicative weight is carried by förtroende and related full terms, while förtro- remains primarily a productive root for forming compounds.

See also

Trust in language; Förtrösta; Förtroende in political and corporate contexts.