rökande

Rökande is the present participle of the Swedish verb röka, meaning to smoke. In Swedish, it functions primarily as an adjective meaning “smoking” or “the act of smoking.” It can modify a noun to describe something related to smoking, for example rökande vanor (smoking habits) or rökande personer (smoking individuals), though the latter is less common in everyday language. The participle agrees in number and gender with the noun: en rökande person, två rökande personer.

As a stand-alone noun, rökande is uncommon; Swedish typically uses rökare to denote a smoker and rökning to denote the act of smoking. Nevertheless, rökande can appear in formal or descriptive text as a participial noun in phrases like “de rökande” when referring to people who smoke.

In terms of semantics, rökande conveys an ongoing or characteristic state—the act of smoking rather than a fixed identity. It is distinct from rökt or röker; röker is the present tense of röka meaning “smokes,” whereas rökande is the participle.

Etymology: rökande is formed from röka plus the present-participle suffix -ande, following the pattern of Swedish adjectives derived from verbs. The root rök means smoke, a basic semantic core with cognates in other Scandinavian languages.

See also: Smoking in Sweden; rökare; rökning.