djuphet

Djuphet is a Swedish abstract noun meaning depth or profundity. It covers physical depth, such as the distance from surface to bottom, and figurative depth, including the complexity, seriousness, or emotional richness of a subject.

Etymology: The word is formed from djup (deep) plus the suffix -het, a productive Swedish morpheme that yields abstract nouns indicating a state or quality, as in frihet (freedom) and säkerhet (safety).

Usage: In physical contexts, djuphet describes how deep something is. In literary and philosophical discussions, it denotes profundity—how much meaning, nuance, or emotional resonance lies beneath the surface. It commonly appears in Swedish-language discourse about nature, science, art, and human psychology.

Translation: In English, the closest equivalents are depth or profundity, or phrases such as depth of meaning or emotional depth. The choice depends on context: djuphet of the ocean is translated as depth of the ocean, while djuphet of a text can be rendered as profoundness or depth of meaning. The term does not have a direct one-to-one English cognate beyond these translations.

See also: Related concepts include depth, profundity, and the quality of meaning.