och

Och is the Swedish word for and, serving as the standard coordinating conjunction used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. It appears in simple lists (bread och water), in linkages of adjectives (stor och liten), and in combining two independent clauses (Hon kom hit, och hon stannade länge).

Etymology and relations: Och derives from Old Norse and is part of a family of Germanic conjunctions. It is cognate with the Danish and Norwegian word og, which carry the same basic meaning of “and,” reflecting shared linguistic heritage in the region.

Pronunciation and spelling: Och is typically pronounced as a single syllable, roughly like "awk" in English, with the h not pronounced and the o pronounced short. The spelling remains och in standard Swedish; in informal contexts, it may be shortened to o in casual writing or signage, but this is not standard in formal texts.

Usage notes: As a common connective, och links elements across sentences and phrases without changing word order. In Swedish punctuation, the use of a comma before och follows general listing and clause-joining rules and is not determined by the word itself. The word is primarily used in written Swedish as the standard form; other Germanic languages in the region use cognate forms such as og in Danish and Norwegian.

See also: conjunctions in Swedish and other Germanic languages; and the equivalents og in Danish and Norwegian.