utdöd

Utdöd is a Swedish term meaning extinct, applied to that which no longer exists as a living population, form, or practice. The word is used primarily in biology, paleontology, linguistics, and cultural history to describe entities that cannot recover or be revived under natural conditions.

In biology, utrdöd describes species or populations with no living individuals known to exist anywhere in the world. An organism is considered extinct when exhaustive surveys fail to detect any living members and there is no reasonable expectation of natural recovery. The term is commonly contrasted with categories such as extinct in the wild, or critically endangered, which indicate different levels of threat or improbability of persistence.

In linguistics, utdöd refers to languages that have no native speakers left and no community capable of using the language for daily communication. Language death may occur through gradual shift to more dominant languages, extinction events, or catastrophic disruption of speech communities. Revitalization efforts can occur for some utdöda languages, though success varies.

In cultural and historical contexts, utdöd is used to discuss extinct human practices, populations, or cultural forms, as well as megafaunal extinctions and other ecological changes linked to past events. International databases, such as those compiling conservation status, adopt analogous terms in multiple languages; in Swedish, utdöd aligns with global concepts of extinction used by scientists and researchers.

Notes: The term should not be confused with similar words such as utdöende (on the brink of extinction) or försvunnen (vanished), which have distinct meanings.