Tilfælde

Tilfælde is a Danish noun that denotes an occurrence, instance, or case of something. It can refer to a particular event or situation that fits a description or condition. In everyday language it is used for both concrete incidents and more abstract references, and it often appears in phrases such as i dette tilfælde, meaning in this case.

In medicine and public health, tilfelde is used to describe a diagnosed condition or a patient with a disease. For example, et tilfælde af influenza means a case of influenza. In epidemiology, the term is used when counting incidents, for example the number of tilfælde of a disease or the incidence of illness over a period. The word thus shifts from a general notion of an event to a measurable unit in statistics.

Grammatically, tilfældes is a neuter gender noun. The forms are et tilfælde (indefinite singular), til faldet (definite singular), tilfælde (indefinite plural), and tilfældene (definite plural). The use of the plural form without an article is common when counting multiple incidents, as in flere tilfælde.

Etymology traces tilfælde to the verb tilfalde, meaning to befall or to happen. This reflects its core sense as an occurrence that has happened to someone or something. The term is widely used across domains to distinguish a single instance from the general concept or from hypothetical examples.