gullig

See also: güllig

Swedish

Etymology

Adjective

gullig (comparative gulligare, superlative gulligast)

(colloquial) cute, sweet (cute in a sweet way, like a child or an animal, of appearance or behavior or the like)
en gullig tigerunge
a cute tiger cub

en gullig bebis
a cute baby

Katterna är så gulliga när de låtsasbråkar
The cats are so cute when they play fight

Det var gulligt av dig att städa huset
It was sweet of you to clean the house

Usage notes

The word that best matches English cute in the general sense is söt. Gullig additionally implies sweetness, like of a child or an animal, and so is less common for describing being cute in a physically attractive way (unless going for "cute and sweet" in tone, which sounds the same). Gullig implies söt, but söt does not necessarily imply gullig.

Like English cute, neither söt nor gullig has any inherent connotations of physical attractiveness. A baby can be called both without sounding weird. Fin (“pretty”) is similarly neutral.

Declension

Inflection of **gullig**
Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative¹
common singular	gullig	gulligare	gulligast
neuter singular	gulligt	gulligare	gulligast
plural	gulliga	gulligare	gulligast
masculine plural²	gullige	gulligare	gulligast

Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular³	gullige	gulligare	gulligaste
all	gulliga	gulligare	gulligaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Derived terms

Related terms

gulla

References