åtminstone

Swedish

Alternative forms

• åtminſtone (archaic)

Etymology

From Old Swedish at minsto, + the feminine dative singular definite suffix definite -unni/-onne. Equivalent to åt + dative form of modern minsta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oːt²mɪnsˌtɔnɛ/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /oːt²mɪnsˌtɔndɛ/ (nonstandard, but more common than the correct one)
• The nonstandard pronunciation comes from a confusion with the affix -onde which is a much more common ending than -one. -onde is found in some ordinal numbers such as åttonde (“eighth”), nionde (“ninth”), tionde (“tenth”) and tjugonde (“twentieth”). There are also -ande and -ende, the Swedish equivalents of -ing, both with the d before the last vowel which also makes it seem natural to pronounce it in this word, which actually lacks it, as well. -one appears only in two other terms: på sistone, i förstone, of which the latter is somewhat dated.

Adverb

åtminstone (not comparable)

1. at least (at a lower limit)

   Det finns åtminstone fem godissorter på affären.

   There are at least five sorts of candy at the supermarket.

   Att tanka idag går på åtminstone 500 kronor.

   To refuel these days is at least 500 kronor.

References

• åtminstone in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• åtminstone in Svensk ordbok (SO)