jiddra

Swedish

Etymology

From an older slang sense ’to live’, from Tavringer Romani jida, jiddra (to live), cf. jidrepa (life), from Romani džiw- (to live). Related to Sanskrit जीवति (jīvati, to live).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /²jɪdra/
  • Rhymes: -²ɪdra

Verb

jiddra (present jiddrar, preterite jiddrade, supine jiddrat, imperative jiddra)

  1. (colloquial) to talk with more or less meaningless content
    Äh, sluta jiddra!
    Meh, stop spewing nonsense!
  2. (colloquial, by extension) to mess, to argue (engage in more-or-less meaningless arguing or cheeky banter or the like)
    Jiddra inte med Olle!
    Don't mess with Olle!
    Det är ingen idé att jiddra med utkastarna
    It's no point arguing with the bouncers
    • 2016, Kristin Nord, “Kranvattnets konnässörer”, in Sydsvenskan[1]:
      Jag slutade jiddra med den stackars servitrisen där på krogen och pröjsade till slut.
      I stopped messing/arguing with the poor waitress there at the pub and finally paid.

Conjugation

Conjugation of jiddra (weak)
active passive
infinitive jiddra jiddras
supine jiddrat jiddrats
imperative jiddra
imper. plural1 jiddren
present past present past
indicative jiddrar jiddrade jiddras jiddrades
ind. plural1 jiddra jiddrade jiddras jiddrades
subjunctive2 jiddre jiddrade jiddres jiddrades
present participle jiddrande
past participle

1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

References

  • jiddra in Svensk ordbok (SO)
  • Gerd Carling (2005) “jidder”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 84