overwordExplorer
SWEDISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fika.

having coffee, tea, saft (“cordial, squash”), or the like, usually with cookies, pastries, or other (sweet) snacks, usually with others, as a social activity

4 characters2 syllables approx.Svenska language

Meaning & usage

noun/²fiːka/
  1. having coffee, tea, saft (“cordial, squash”), or the like, usually with cookies, pastries, or other (sweet) snacks, usually with others, as a social activity

    common-gender · neuter
  2. having coffee, tea, saft (“cordial, squash”), or the like, usually with cookies, pastries, or other (sweet) snacks, usually with others, as a social activity a coffee (or tea, etc.) break, when taking a break to do the above

    common-gender · neuter
Where this word comes from

This sense is attested in writing from 1910. One possible explanation is that the word is formed by backslang of the syllables in the dialectal word kaffi (“coffee”), from Dutch koffie or a similar source. Another possible etymology is that it is derived from the older verb fika (desire, crave – see § Etymology 2), in the sense of craving something sweet.

verb/²fiːka/
  1. to have fika; to have coffee

    De är det fikande folket.
Where this word comes from

This sense is attested in writing from 1910. One possible explanation is that the word is formed by backslang of the syllables in the dialectal word kaffi (“coffee”), from Dutch koffie or a similar source. Another possible etymology is that it is derived from the older verb fika (desire, crave – see § Etymology 2), in the sense of craving something sweet.

verb/²fiːka/
  1. to strive for, to work hard; to desire, often with the preposition efter

    archaic
    att fika efter makt
  2. to hurry

    archaic
Where this word comes from

Attested in writing from 1527. From Old Swedish fikia (“to hurry, to eagerly strive for”). Related to Danish fige, Norwegian Nynorsk fika, Icelandic fíkjask. According to Svenska Akademiens ordbok, it might be related to the Norwegian verb fika (“to eagerly move ones arms back and forth”) and German ficken (“to rub”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

fika has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

fika studiofika workshello, fika

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.