Fika (coffee break)

Fika (Swedish pronunciation: [²fiːka]) is a concept in Swedish (and Finnish) culture with the basic meaning "to have coffee", often accompanied with pastries, cookies or pie. A more contemporary generalised meaning of the word, where the coffee may be replaced by tea or even juice, lemonade or saft for children, has become widespread. In some social circles, even just a sandwich or a small meal may be denoted a fika similar to the English concept of afternoon tea. In Sweden pastries in general (for example cinnamon buns) are often referred to as fikabröd ("fika bread").

The Swedish tradition is spreading through Swedish businesses around the world.

The word "fika" is an example of the back slang used in the 19th century, in which syllables of a word were reversed, deriving fika from kaffi, an earlier variant of the Swedish word kaffe ("coffee"). From fika also comes the word fik (a colloquial term for "café") through a process of back-formation.

An older meaning of fika is "to strive (for)" in Swedish, and fika therefore becomes a combination of the reversed syllables of kaffe (coffee) and the Swedish verb word (fika).

Fika is considered a social institution in Sweden and Finland; it means having a break, most often a coffee break, with one's colleagues, friends, date or family. The word fika can be used as both verb and a noun. You can fika at work by taking a "coffee break", fika with someone like a "coffee date", or just drink a cup of coffee, tea or other non-alcoholic beverage. As such, the word has quite ambiguous connotations, but almost always includes something to eat, such as biscuits, cakes and even sweets, accompanied with the drink. This practice of taking a break, often with a cinnamon roll, biscuits, or cookies, and perhaps with fruit on the side, is central to Swedish life.

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