Henholdsvis

Henholdsvis is a Norwegian adverb used to indicate a correspondence between elements in a list, roughly equivalent to “respectively” or “namely” in English. It signals that the first item in a sequence relates to the first attribute described, the second item to the second attribute, and so on.

The term is most common in formal writing, such as academic articles, statistical reports, and legal or official documents. It helps to keep mappings explicit when lists of items are presented. It is less frequent in everyday speech, where authors may spell out the relations more explicitly.

Etymology and form: henholdsvis is a compound built from the elements relating to reference or regard (henhold) and a suffix indicating manner or mode (vis). The combination conveys the idea of “in the manner of the items named” or, more simply, “respectively.”

Usage notes: The phrase is typically used after presenting a list or two parallel items whose attributes are described in the same order. It is important that the order of the items matches the order of their attributes; misalignment can create ambiguity. In Norwegian, henholdsvis can often replace the English “respectively,” but it is characteristic of more formal registers.

Example: Antallet deltakere var 120 og 80, henholdsvis for menn og kvinner. In a budget summary: Inntekter og kostnader var 1,2 og 0,8 millioner kroner, henholdsvis. See also: respektive (in some contexts), nameless equivalents in other languages.