-årsåldern

Swedish

Etymology

From år (“years”) +‎ -s- +‎ åldern (“the age”), "the X-years age."

Suffix

-årsåldern

  1. (in "i X-årsåldern," with X a multiple of ten) aged (at least and) around the specified number of years
    en man i femtioårsåldern
    a man (having turned and) around fifty years old (see the usage notes below)
    en 30-nå(go)nting
    a 30-something (for comparison)
  2. (in "i X-årsåldern," otherwise) aged the specified number of years
    Synonym: -årig
    en man i 27-årsåldern
    a man aged 27 / a 27-year-old man
    en man i 30–40-årsåldern
    a man in his thirties (roughly)
  3. the specified age
    att träna efter sextioårsåldern
    to exercise after sixty (can also be expressed as "efter sextio")
    När hon nådde sjuttioårsåldern var hon mycket svag
    By the time she reached her seventies (reached the age of seventy), she was very weak

Usage notes

"50-årsåldern" (as an arbitrary example) is often used to translate "fifties" and vice versa, but this can be inaccurate, as seen above. The intuition is closer to "early fifties." When it matters, "He is in his fifties" can more accurately be translated as "Han är i 50–60-årsåldern" or "Han är mellan 50 och 60." Another possibility is the informal "Han är 50-nånting" (He is 50-something). This might be considered an anglicism by some, but appears in newspapers.

"Late fifties" might require some rewriting like "nära sextio" (close to sixty), "närmare sextio än femtio" (closer to sixty than fifty), "närmade sig sextio" (was approaching sixty), or giving an exact age, though "sena femtioårsåldern" appears sporadically as well. Another rare but but fairly idiomatic-sounding (and literary-sounding) alternative is "i sina sena femtio."

See also
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