Skör

Skör is an adjective in Swedish meaning brittle, fragile, or easily broken. It describes both physical things—such as glass, dry twigs, or thin ice—and abstract states, such as health or a relationship, that lack stability or resilience. In compounds it can modify nouns directly, for example ben (bone) in ben- och hudskörhet (osteoporosis and fragile skin), and skörhet (fragility) as a noun denotes the condition of being skör.

Common collocations include skör hälsa (fragile health), skör vänskap (precarious friendship), and skör ekonomi (fragile economy), as well as set phrases like skör som glas (brittle as glass). In figurative usage, skör emphasizes sensitivity and the ease with which something can be damaged or disrupted.

Pronounced approximately /ɧøːr/, skör forms skörhet (fragility) in the singular and sköra (plural) for nouns that take such agreement. Its comparative and superlative are mer skör and mest skör or, less commonly, skörare and skörast. It is used mainly in Swedish but appears as a loanword in English in specialized or stylistic contexts.

Etymologically, skör derives from Old Norse skjǫrr “brittle, weak,” cognate with Icelandic skjör and Faroese skjór. Danish and Norwegian have a related adjective skør/om which can mean “foolish, silly,” a semantic shift not shared by Swedish skör.