en skull

Definition & meaning

Skull means reason, cause, or sake. In modern Swedish, it is used mainly in the fixed expression för … skull, meaning “for the sake of …” or “because of …”.

For example, för säkerhets skull means “just to be safe” or “as a precaution.”

It is not the usual Swedish word for the bones of the head; that word is skalle ↗.

Grammar & Word origin

Skull is a noun, but it is rarely used on its own in everyday Swedish. It stays unchanged in the common pattern för + [someone or something] + skull.

The word is historically associated with ideas of obligation or duty, as in skyldig ↗ (“obligated,” “guilty”).

Synonyms & antonyms

• skäl ↗ — “reason” or “grounds.” This is the more common general word for a reason; skull is mostly found in the set phrase för … skull.
• orsak ↗ — “cause” or “reason.” It often points more directly to what caused something.

There is no direct antonym in this sense.

Common phrases & collocations

• för säkerhets skull [?](vocabuo://word/för säkerhets skull) — “just to be safe”; “as a precaution”
• för min skull [?](vocabuo://word/för min skull) — “for my sake”
• för … skull [?](vocabuo://word/för ... skull) — “for the sake of …”