västens

Västen is a Swedish noun meaning waistcoat or vest, a sleeveless garment worn on the upper body over a shirt and often under a jacket. In standard Swedish, västen is the definite form of the noun väst, which refers to the garment in general terms. The word västens is the genitive (possessive) form, used to indicate ownership or association with the vest.

In practice, Swedish possessive formation for definite singular nouns uses -s appended to the definite form. Thus, västen becomes västens to mean “the vest’s” or “of the vest.” Examples: västen har fickor (the vest has pockets) and västens fickor (the vest’s pockets). The -s possessive is written without an apostrophe, which differs from some other languages.

The term Västen typically appears in contexts related to clothing, fashion descriptions, or everyday speech about garments. Because västen is a common garment in European fashion, the word can appear in catalogs, sewing patterns, and wardrobe discussions. The possessive västens is most common when describing attributes or items associated with a specific vest.

Notes on usage: while västen denotes the garment itself, västens refers to something belonging to or associated with that garment, not a separate noun. The concept is primarily linguistic and descriptive rather than a distinct cultural or historical topic, and discussions of västen or västens usually occur within broader discussions of Swedish vocabulary, grammar, or clothing terminology. See also väst (vest) for related terms.