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Norwegian word of the day: Lynrask 

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Norwegian word of the day: Lynrask 
Need something done quick? You'll need it done Lynrask. Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash and Nicolas Raymond/FlickR.

If you want to learn today’s word, you’d better make it snappy.

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A compound adjective that comes from two different words, the noun lyn (‘lightning’) and adjective rask (fast) meaning (you guessed it) ‘lightning fast’ or ‘as fast as lightning’.

Saying something is lynraskt, or, in adverb form, has been done, lynraskt can be meant as a compliment or a more straightforward description- for example, det var lynraskt (that was super quick).

It’s also quite common to say something is needed lynraskt when you mean ‘as soon as possible’, although there is also a more exact and common equivalent to ‘as soon as possible’: så snart som mulig or alternatively så raskt som mulig (‘as quickly as possibly’).

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Why do I need to know Lynrask? 

English has a lot of synonyms related to ‘fast’ or ‘quickly’: swift, rapid, brisk, turbo, express and so on.

Such words are far less common in Norwegian, so instead, it is much more common to compound an intensifier with an adjective to emphasise a point. An example would be kjempestor (super big).

Alternatively, you can use adjectives that use a noun in compound form to enforce the original meaning, such as lynraskt.

Use it like this: 

Jeg sendte søknaden min i går og svaret kom lynraskt.

I sent my application yesterday and the answer came back swiftly.

Så du Erling Haaland spille i helgen? Han er lynrask. 

(Did you see Erling Haaland play at the weekend? He is lighting quick)

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