resten

Resten is a noun found in several Germanic languages, most notably Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish. It generally conveys the idea of what remains after part has been removed or accounted for, or, in plural form, the leftovers. The term shares a common ancestor with the English word rest and with cognate forms in related languages.

In Dutch, resten is the plural of rest and refers to leftovers or the remaining parts of something. It can describe physical leftovers, such as the rest of a meal, or more abstract leftovers, like the remaining tasks. In mathematical contexts, the usual Dutch word for remainder is rest; resten may appear when listing multiple remainders.

In Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish, resten is the definite singular form meaning “the rest,” as in phrases like resten av dagen (the rest of the day) or resten av boken (the rest of the book). These languages typically use resten as the standard definite form of rest, with related forms existing for other grammatical cases or numbers.

Note that in German, the common word for remainder is Rest, with the plural Reste. The spelling resten is not standard in German, though Dutch-derived influences can appear in mixed-language contexts.

See also: rest, remainder, leftovers.