hårdhänt

Swedish

Etymology

hård (hard) +‎ -hänt (-handed)

Adjective

hårdhänt (comparative hårdhäntare, superlative hårdhäntast)

  1. rough (as opposed to mild), (sometimes by implication) heavy-handed
    Var inte polisen lite väl hårdhänt mot den där snubben? Han verkade ju inte göra motstånd.
    Weren't the police a bit rough with that guy? I mean, he didn't seem to be resisting.

Declension

Inflection of hårdhänt
Indefinite positive comparative superlative1
common singular hårdhänt hårdhäntare hårdhäntast
neuter singular hårdhänt hårdhäntare hårdhäntast
plural hårdhänta hårdhäntare hårdhäntast
masculine plural2 hårdhänte hårdhäntare hårdhäntast
Definite positive comparative superlative
masculine singular3 hårdhänte hårdhäntare hårdhäntaste
all hårdhänta hårdhäntare hårdhäntaste

1 The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
2 Dated or archaic.
3 Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Adverb

hårdhänt (comparative hårdhäntare, superlative hårdhäntast)

  1. roughly (as opposed to mildly), (sometimes by implication) in a heavy-handed manner
    Brottas inte så hårdhänt med nybörjarbrottarna
    Don't wrestle so rough with the beginner wrestlers
    Kunde inte upproret tryckts ner mindre hårdhänt?
    Couldn't the uprising have been suppressed in a less heavy-handed manner?

Usage notes

Physically rough is the immediate intuition, with other senses as an extension.

References