In English, the Swedish names of Ikea products mean everything from ‘squirrel’ to ‘chubby’ to ‘giggle’ — here are 11 of the quirkiest

In English, the Swedish names of Ikea products mean everything from ‘squirrel’ to ‘chubby’ to ‘giggle’ — here are 11 of the quirkiest

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If you’re not a native speaker of Swedish — and even if you are — you might be confused as you walk around an IKEA store.

All the products are labeled with Swedish names that translate to words as diverse as "hoard" (Hopa) and "chubby" (Knubbig).

Business Insider has previously reported that IKEA relies on a special system to label its products, designed by its founder Ingvar Kamprad, who was dyslexic and didn’t want to use numbers. For example, furniture items are named after Swedish places. Chairs and desks have men’s names. Children’s items are named after mammals and birds.

That doesn’t really make things any less confusing for English-speaking customers, though. So it helps to take a look at this unofficial IKEA dictionary, created by Rubiks cube expert Lars Petrus. He cautions that in his dictionary, the definitions can be incomplete or wrong "since the words are deliberately ambigious, and several places have the same name," so we’ve cross-referenced them all with other sources.

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the quirkiest product names in the IKEA lexicon, along with their English translation and their corresponding product.

Bigaraå means ‘white heart cherry’

Screenshot/IKEA

At IKEA, Bigaraå is also a style of plant pot.

Dvala means ‘hibernation.’

Screenshot/IKEA

Dvala is also a type of sheet set at IKEA.

Ekorre means ‘squirrel.’

Screenshot/IKEA

One of the items in IKEA’s Ekorre series is a set of suspension hooks.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• We visited the posh English preschool in Manhattan where manners are paramount and 4-year-olds eat off china
• 17 things to start doing in your 20s so you don’t live in regret in your 40s
• 5 things that used to be basic manners — but people no longer do

SEE ALSO: There’s a logical system behind IKEA’s strange product names

READ MORE: The newest decluttering craze is ‘Swedish death cleaning,’ which hinges on the fact that friends and family won’t want your junk when you’re dead

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