bæja

Böja is a Swedish verb meaning to bend, curve, or flex. It can describe bending a physical object such as a knee, a branch, or a wire, as well as bending by shaping something into a desired form. The reflexive form böja sig means to bow or lean forward, often as a sign of respect.

Grammatically, böja is a strong verb. Its present tense is böjer, its past tense is böjde, and its supine and past participle form is böjt. The adjectival form böjd means bent; for example, den böjda linjen means the bent line. In compound tenses, it is used with auxiliary verbs such as har or hade (har böjt, hade böjt).

Etymology: böja lies in the Germanic language family. It is cognate with Danish bøje and Norwegian bøye and derives from Old Norse beygja, with related forms in other Scandinavian languages. The root conveys turning or bending and has extended to the grammatical sense of inflection through metaphor.

Usage: In everyday Swedish, böja is common for physical actions (böja en låda, böja knäet) and for figurative uses (böja regler, böja principer). It also appears in technical language to describe curves or deformations. The term is often contrasted with böjning, the noun for conjugation or inflection.