svensken

svensken is a noun that translates to 'the Swede' in English. It is the definite singular form of svenskan in Swedish, which itself derives from the name of the world peoples group associated with Sweden. The word is used to refer to an individual who is a citizen of, or culturally associated with, the Kingdom of Sweden. In everyday usage, svensken may appear in contexts such as demographic discussions, cultural comparisons, or media reporting. For example, a sentence might read, "Den svensken som kämpar med språket lär sig snabbt" (The Swede who struggles with the language learns quickly).

The term is distinct from svenskar, which is the plural form meaning 'Swedes', and svenskarna, the definite plural. In Swedish orthography, the use of the -en ending marks definiteness with a noun that normally takes the -en definite article in common gender. The term can appear in compound words, for example svenskenigma, a word coined in some media for 'Swede-ness.' In German-language discussion it sometimes appears as "der Schweden" (a Germanized form), but is not standard German. The word plays a role in sociolinguistics when analyzing national identity, often discussed in studies that reference the Swedish diaspora or demographic statistics as recorded by Statistics Sweden. The usage of svensken in formal writing typically follows the standard orthographic conventions for Swedish, with a lowercase initial when used in a sentence, and a final -n indicating definiteness.