sikker

Sikker is a North Germanic adjective used in Danish and Norwegian to mean safe, secure, or certain. In both languages it describes things that are reliable or free from risk, as well as statements or beliefs that are confident or uncontested. The word also appears in common compound forms and related nouns, such as sikkerhet, meaning safety or security.

In Danish, sikker can describe physical safety as well as reliability. It can also express certainty in statements, as in jeg er sikker på, at han kommer (I am sure that he will come). A typical noun form related to the concept is sikkerhed (safety or security). In everyday usage, you might hear sikker used for a secure door, a reliable plan, or a confident expectation.

In Norwegian, sikker shares a similar range of meanings. It is used to describe safe conditions or trustworthy outcomes, and it combines with prepositional phrases to convey certainty, for example, jeg er sikker på at han kommer. The related noun sikkerhet is used for safety or security in various contexts, from personal protection to national or system-wide safety measures.

Etymologically, sikker is part of a broader North Germanic family of words pertaining to safety and certainty; cognates include Swedish säker. The form traces back to Proto-Germanic roots associated with security and trust, and it has given rise to related terms in the languages, including sikkerhet in Norwegian and sikker in Danish.

See also: sikkerhet, sikre, på (certain about), trygt (safe/secure in related terms).