väpnade

Väpnade is a Swedish adjective and past participle meaning armed, equipped with weapons. It describes people, groups, or objects that carry or are supplied with weapons, and is commonly used in contexts such as military, security, or law enforcement, as well as in journalism and historical writing.

The form changes with gender and number: en väpnad man, ett väpnat vapen, väpnade grupper. The term derives from the verb väpna or beväpna, meaning to arm, and is related to the noun vapen (weapon). In Swedish, the participle forms align with grammatical gender and number, giving en väpnad, ett väpnat, and väpnade for plural use.

In international usage, väpnad is often paired with nouns to denote armed forces, weapons, or conflicts, for example väpnade styrkor (armed forces) or väpnad konflikt (armed conflict). The phrase is common in Swedish media, academic writing, and policy discussions on security, arms control, and international humanitarian law. It appears in both contemporary reporting on conflicts and historical accounts of wars and uprisings.

See also: vapen, beväpna, beväpnad.