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Glite Dictionary
🧸 A festive doll 🧙 A house spirit
nisse

nisse

9.9
A small house spirit from Scandinavia that people believe protects families at Christmas
  • noun
  • /ˈnɪsə/
  • Literature
: nisse
  • Every year, the family would set out a bowl of porridge for the nisse as a sign of appreciation.

Examples

  • According to tradition, a nisse would come down from the attic to help with the holiday preparations.

  • The children placed their handmade decorations around the home, hoping to attract a friendly nisse for Christmas.

  • And you know I love that Nisse, as I have a Judy-made nisse of my own.

    Blog text (18)

Surface Forms

nisse singular
nisses plural

Etymology

Nisse comes from old Scandinavian stories about a small household spirit who looks after the home and farm. One popular way to remember it is that the name sounds like Nils, so a nisse is like a little 'elf' who protects families at Christmas.