Borrowed from Danish hygge, Norwegian Nynorsk hygge or Norwegian Bokmål hygge.
Meanings
(UK) Cosy, convivial.
[Emma Jane] Unsworth describes how “late at night, after video calls with the East Coast of America, she often stayed on as a host, alone, in those abandoned Zoom rooms, her own face staring back at her, the glow of the ring-light as hygge as any wood-burning stove, sipping a glass of something moderately alcoholic, feeling a dystopian peace …” 2025 May 12, Shahidha Bari, quoting Emma Jane Unsworth, “Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth review – a riotous roadtrip”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2025:
‘So, where are they all? What's everyone doing?’
‘They're getting hygge,’ she tells me, making a noise that sounds a little like she has something stuck in her throat. 2015, Helen Russell, The Year of Living Danishly, Icon Books Ltd, →ISBN:
Borrowed from Danish hygge, Norwegian Nynorsk hygge or Norwegian Bokmål hygge.
Meanings
(UK, uncountable) A feeling of cosiness, comfort, contentment and conviviality.
According to this now vast popular literature, the creation of an atmosphere of hygge is aided by gløgg (mulled wine), meatballs and cardamom buns. 2016 November 22, Charlotte Higgins, “The hygge conspiracy”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2018:
Translations (18)
sv trevnad (cosiness, conviviality) · sh udobnost (cosiness, conviviality) · fi hygge (cosiness, conviviality) · nb hygge (cosiness, conviviality) · sv mys (cosiness, conviviality) · nl gezelligheid (cosiness, conviviality) · fr hygge (cosiness, conviviality) · sv gemyt (cosiness, conviviality) · hu meghittség (cosiness, conviviality) · de Gemütlichkeit (cosiness, conviviality) · de Wohligkeit (cosiness, conviviality) · pl hygge (cosiness, conviviality) · nl hygge (cosiness, conviviality) · ru хю́гге (cosiness, conviviality) · it accoglievolezza (cosiness, conviviality) · da hygge (cosiness, conviviality) · ko 휘게 (cosiness, conviviality) · sv hygge (cosiness, conviviality)