Here are a few English-sounding/-looking Norwegian false friends, i.e. words whose meaning is not what you may think at first, coming from English.
In Writing (lookalikes?)
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In Speech (soundalikes?)
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- "Fabrikk"
- "factory"
- "Stoff"
- "cloth" or
- Illegal drugs or
- "substance" or
- literature
- "TP"
- The game "Trivial Pursuit"
- "Gift"
- "Poison" or
- "Married"
- "By"
- "Town"
- "Bra" and "God"
- Variants of "Good"
- "Kommune"
- "Municipality"
- "Sti"
- "path" (The Norwegian word for stye is "Svinesti")
- "Flax"
- A form of instant lottery
- "Flaks"
- "Luck"
- "Spill"
- "Game" (Shall we play a...) or
- "Play" (We are going to see a..)
- "Gave"
- Means "gift"
- "Kok"
- "Boil" - Cooking is "lage mat" (make food)
or even "kokkelere" (do as a Cook)
- "Bu"
- "Live" (in) or
- "Booth" (Sales-...)
- "Inn"
- Means only "in"
- "Gang"
- "Hallway"
- "Skigard"
- A type of fence made from wood
- "Fart"
- "speed"
- "Have" or "Haven"
- "Garden"
- "Garden"
- The king's guard
- "Verk"
- "pain" (a ..) or
- "puss" (also used)
- "Ass."
- "Asst."
- "Spark"
- "Kick"
- "AS" or "A/S" ; Corporation type
- Pære ; "pear" or
- short for "lightbulb" (lyspære)
- "Boss"
- "garbage"
- "Fang"
- "lap" (Sitting on grandpas..)
- "Dog" ; "though"
- "Hen"
- Away
- "Krem"
- Whipped cream (Before it's whipped, it's called "Fløte")
- "Full"
- "full" (as a glass is full) or
- "drunk" - If you want to explain that you've had enough
to eat,the word you're looking for is "mett" or too much, then "sprekkmett" means ready to burst
- "Leksjon"
- "lesson", not lecture (which is forelesning)
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- "Flår" (pronounced like "floor")
- "Skinning"
- "Beis" (pronounced like "base")
- A type of wood taint/preservant
- "Grei" (pronounced like "grey")
- "OK" (also used)
- "Hår" (pronounced like "hore")
- "Hair"
- "Lapp" (pronounced like "lap")
- "Patch"
- "Ku" (pronounced like "coup")
- "Cow"
- "Lut" (pronounced like "loot")
- "Lye" (chemical)
- "Deg" (pronounced like "day")
- "You" (singular)
- "Lus" (pronounced like "loose")
- "Lice"
- "Dit" (pronounced like "DEET")
- "There"
- "Leit" (pronounced almost like "light")
- "Sad" (Something ..) or
- "search"
- "Mus" (pronounced like "moose")
- Mouse
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