mellan

Mellan is a Swedish preposition that expresses a relation of space, time, or relation among two or more elements, equivalent to “between” or “among” in English. It is used when identifying the position, interval, or choice that lies in the middle of others.

In spatial contexts, mellan denotes the area separating two or more objects, as in between two cities (mellan två städer) or between the house and the school (mellan huset och skolan). In temporal contexts, it marks a time interval, for example between two o’clock and three (mellan två och tre). It also appears in abstract or comparative phrases, such as choosing between several options (mellan flera alternativ) or in expressions like emellanåt, which means occasionally.

Grammatically, the noun or noun phrase following mellan can be definite or indefinite depending on the context, and it often combines with numerals or demonstratives. The word also appears in compounds where it functions as a prefix indicating a gap or interval, such as mellanmål (a snack between meals) and mellanslag (the space between words on a line).

Etymology and related forms: mellan is cognate with Danish mellem and Norwegian mellom/mellom, reflecting a common Germanic heritage for the meaning “in the middle.” A related construction is emellan-, an older or emphatic form used in some phrases. In modern Swedish, många compound words built with mellan convey a sense of temporal or spatial separation.

In translation, mellan is commonly rendered as between or among, and appears across everyday speech and formal writing.