Officially Swedish

”Ekocid” – Swedish for ecocide – has been recognised by the Swedish Academy as an established part of the Swedish language.
Ekocid SAOL 2026 IMG_0886

Ecocide, Swedish ‘ekocid’, has been selected for inclusion in the word list of The Swedish Academy, Svenska Akademiens Ordlista, SAOL for short. While not strictly speaking official, SAOL is the generally referenced norm when it comes to spelling, inflection and, to some extent pronounciation of the Swedish language.

Unlike more ephemeral listings, only words that really are established parts of the language are included in SAOL.

‘The words need to have worked their way into the written language’, says Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy in this article in broadsheet Svenska Dagbladet, in which Malm specifically mentions ecocide.

Ten years ago, the word quite literally did not exist in Swedish.

Among its other duties, the Swedish Academy selects the Nobel laureate for literature.

 

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