Stjärtens

Stjärtens is the genitive form of the Swedish noun stjärt. In Swedish, possessive or genitive forms are typically created by adding the suffix -s to the head noun, usually without an apostrophe. Therefore stjärtens literally means “the tail’s” or “the butt’s,” depending on the sense in which stjärt is used.

The word stjärt primarily refers to the buttocks or hind part in everyday Swedish. When referring to the tail of an animal, svans is the more common term, though stjärt can appear in certain contexts or dialects. As a genitive marker, stjärtens is used to attribute a property or relation to another noun, as in stjärtens funktion (the tail’s function) or stjärtens färg (the tail’s color).

In usage, stjärtens forms part of a noun phrase and does not stand alone as a noun in this role. It is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence. Etymologically, it derives from stjärt, a Swedish word cognate with related Germanic terms meaning tail or rear.

See also: Swedish grammar; genitive; stjärt; svans.