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gullig

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: güllig

Swedish

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Etymology

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gull +‎ -ig

Adjective

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gullig (comparative gulligare, superlative gulligast)

  1. 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

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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

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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

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See also

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References

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