Óformlegar

Óformlegar is the feminine plural form of the Icelandic adjective óformlegur, which means informal, casual, or non-formal. In linguistic and everyday usage, the form is used to describe informal language, registers, or forms of address and nonstandard variants as opposed to formlegar, formal. The term is found in grammars, dictionaries, and discussions of style, often to label informal variants in contrast with formal ones.

Common contexts include óformlegar setningar (informal sentences) and óformlegar samræður (informal conversations), as well as descriptions of informal vocabulary and pronunciation. It is used when referring to social or stylistic choices that favor familiarity, ease, and efficiency over strict politeness or protocol. The concept covers aspects such as casual vocabulary, contractions, and more relaxed syntactic structures that emerge in everyday speech.

Grammatical note: óformlegar is the feminine plural form of the adjective; Icelandic adjectives decline for gender, number, and case, so other forms exist (óformlegur for masculine singular, óformlegt for neuter singular, and so on). In usage, the form changes to agree with the noun it modifies.

Etymology: formed with the prefix ó- meaning not and formlegur meaning formal. The term thus denotes the non-formal or casual variant within Icelandic language use.

See also: formlegar, formality, language register, sociolinguistics.