What is hygge, and how do you pronounce it?

Hygge arrived in British shops around 2016 looking suspiciously like a reason to buy candles and chunky knitwear. Underneath the merchandise is something simpler, and much older: the deliberate pleasure of being warm, comfortable and unhurried, usually with people you like.

What does hygge mean?

Hygge means cosiness: a feeling of being warm, comfortable, safe and content. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as a Danish word for a quality of cosiness that comes from doing simple things, such as lighting candles, baking or spending time at home with your family.^[1] Merriam-Webster puts it more briefly, as a cosy quality that makes a person feel content and comfortable.^[2]

The caveat is that “cosy” undersells it a little. In Danish, hygge is a verb as well as a noun: you can have hygge, and you can hygge, or hygge sig, which the Danish dictionary describes as creating or enjoying a pleasant, safe and relaxed atmosphere.^[3] It is something you do, not just something you own. The adjective is hyggelig, which roughly means cosy or pleasant.

How do you pronounce hygge?

HOO-guh, in everyday English. The Cambridge Dictionary gives /ˈhʊɡ.ə/ for both British and American English, with the stress on the first syllable.^[1] Merriam-Webster lists HYOO-guh and HOO-guh as accepted pronunciations too.^[2]

The caveat: neither is quite how a Dane says it. The Danish dictionary gives [ˈhygə], where the y is a vowel English lacks, a bit like saying “ee” with your lips rounded as if for “oo”.^[3] Nobody will mind if you say HOO-guh. It is “hygge”, not “higgy” or “hig”, and the double g is a single hard g sound.

Is hygge Danish or Norwegian?

Hygge is Danish, but its roots run through Norwegian. Merriam-Webster says English borrowed it from Danish, which had borrowed it from Norwegian, where it meant to make comfortable.^[2] The Danish dictionary traces the verb back to Old Norse hyggja, meaning to think or to be content with, and says its present meaning came from Norwegian, where it meant to comfort or cheer.^[3]

The caveat is that today, in English, it is firmly associated with Denmark. It is not a Swedish word, despite often being lumped in with Scandinavian trends generally.

When did hygge become popular?

2016, as a trend, although the word is much older in English. Merriam-Webster gives the first known English use of hygge as 1960 for the noun and 1963 for the adjective.^[2] It took off in 2016, when Oxford Dictionaries named it on its Word of the Year shortlist, defining it as cosiness and comfortable conviviality that brings a feeling of contentment or well-being.^[4] It sat alongside words like Brexiteer and adulting; the winner that year was post-truth.

Why that year? There is no single verified answer, and we would be wary of anyone who claims one. What is clear is that a word meaning “be warm and safe at home” had obvious appeal.

How do you hygge in winter?

Make the dark part of the day deliberately comfortable rather than something to scroll through. Winter is where hygge makes the most sense: short days, early nights, a natural pull indoors. Some ways in:

• Soft light, not overhead light. Lamps, candles if you can use them safely, fairy lights. Changing the lighting is the quickest way to change the mood of a room.
• Something warm to hold. Tea, cocoa, soup. Hygge is very often about food and drink.
• One slow activity. A jigsaw, a board game, knitting, baking, a long book. Our list of analogue hobbies has plenty more.
• People, unhurried. Friends round for a simple meal with no agenda and no clock-watching.
• Phones away. It is hard to feel cosy and unhurried while a screen is pinging. A phone-free family hour is a very hygge idea.

How do you hygge the British way?

You probably already do, you just call it “cosy”. A pot of tea and a biscuit tin, a pub with a fire on a wet afternoon, a Sunday roast that runs late, a hot water bottle and a library book, a walk in the drizzle with a warm kitchen at the end. None of this needs Scandinavian furniture.

The caveat, and it is worth saying plainly: you cannot buy hygge. Candles and throws help set the scene, but the feeling comes from time, attention and company, which are free. If you find yourself stressed about getting hygge right, it has stopped being hygge. Our guide to slow living makes a similar point about a different trend.

Can you hygge alone?

Yes. Hygge is often described as sociable, and the Oxford definition mentions conviviality,^[4] but the Danish dictionary’s sense of creating a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere works perfectly well for one.^[3] A blanket, a book, a lamp and nowhere to be is about as hygge as it gets.

If you would like a reason to start, a book and a quiet evening are the easiest. Our tips on reading more books help, and The Reading Journal is our small, cosy companion for it. For a weekly ritual, The Slow Sunday Reset is a gentle way in.