strekk

Strekk is a Norwegian noun with multiple related meanings based on extension and tension. It can refer to the act of stretching (to stretch something or to stretch oneself) as well as the result of such action — a stretch, a lengthened portion, or a distance. The term is widely used across everyday language, sports, medicine, and science.

In health and sports, muskelstrekk means a muscle strain or pulled muscle, an injury from overstretching or sudden movement. The general verb form is å strekke seg, meaning to stretch, or to reach. In exercise contexts, the use of stretch as a noun can appear in phrases like en strekkøvelse, though tøying is common.

In science and engineering, strekk describes elongation or deformation of a body under load—often called strain in English. The expression strekkprøving or tensile testing refers to experiments that measure how a material stretches before failure.

In everyday language, en strekk or en strekning can denote a stretch of road, a riverbank, coastline, or a continuous segment of space or time, such as a long stretch of history.

The word strekk stems from the Germanic language family and is cognate with related terms in Danish and Swedish. In Norwegian, strekk carries the core ideas of extension, tension, and segment, with context guiding whether it refers to physical action, an injury, a mechanical deformation, or a geographical span.