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helst

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse helzt.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hɛlst/, [hɛlˀsd̥]

Adverb

helst

  1. superlative degree of gerne (“willingly”)

Derived terms

  • hvad som helst
  • hvem som helst
  • hvilken som helst
  • hvor som helst
  • nogen som helst
  • noget som helst
  • når som helst

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse helzt.

Adverb

helst

  1. superlative degree of gjarna (“willingly”)
    Þetta vildi ég helst ekki.
    I didn't really want that.

Derived terms

  • helst ekki

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse helzt.

Adverb

helst

  1. superlative degree of gjerne (“willingly”)

Derived terms

  • hva som helst
  • hvem som helst
  • hvilken som helst
  • hvor som helst
  • hvordan som helst
  • noe som helst
  • når som helst

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse helzt.

Pronunciation

Adverb

helst

  1. superlative degree of gjerne

Etymology 2

Verb

helst

  1. past participle of helsa

References

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse helzt.

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Adverb

helst

  1. superlative degree of gärna (“happily”): most of all (most preferably)
    Han vill gärna ha en grön kanin, men hellre en gul kanin, och helst en blå kanin
    He would be happy to own a green rabbit, but would prefer a yellow rabbit, and most of all he would like a blue rabbit
  3. preferably
    – Dricka frätande syra är onyttigt. – Jo, det bör man helst inte göra.
    – Drinking corrosive acid is unhealthy. – Yeah, it's best not to do so. ("Yeah, that ought one preferably not do")

Usage notes

Can also be analyzed as "most preferably" in (sense 2), which is closer to the native intuition: "The most preferred thing is to not drink corrosive acid." That meaning is equivalent to "preferably" though.

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

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