Skön

Skön is a Swedish adjective used to describe beauty, pleasantness, or general appeal. It can modify both animate and inanimate nouns, as in en skön dag (a nice day) or ett skönt hus (a beautiful house). The form agrees with gender and number: plural sköna dagar; definite forms den sköna dagen, det sköna huset, de sköna dagarna. The adverbial form is skönt, as in Det var skönt att vila. The related noun is skönhet, meaning beauty.

Etymology and cognates: skön derives from Old Norse skǫnn and is cognate with Danish skøn and Norwegian skjønn, as well as the German schön. The sense of beauty or pleasantness has parallels across the Germanic languages, though usage patterns differ by language.

Usage and nuance: skön conveys subjective appeal and immediate pleasure rather than objective description. It is commonly used for landscapes, atmospheres, music, clothing, and moods, as in skön stämning or skönt väder. It can describe people in a favorable, warm sense, though more neutral terms like vacker or fin are also common. Skönt is used as the neuter predicative form and as the adverb, and the interjection Skönt! expresses relief or enthusiasm, roughly equivalent to “Nice!” or “Great!”

Cultural and lexical notes: In Swedish, skön emphasizes personal experience and emotional resonance rather than strict aesthetics. It sits closer to “pleasant” or “enjoyable” than to “stunning” or “exquisite.” The related noun skönhet covers beauty in general, while synonyms and nuances include vacker (visible beauty), fin (fine), and härlig (wonderful or glorious) depending on context.