Finnish IRL
kippis - two women touching beer glasses across a table on a Finnish summer terrace, a lake and birches behind them in the late evening light

kippis

/ˈkipːis/

Cheers. The glass goes over your shoulder before the shot goes down

Quick answer

Kippis is the ordinary Finnish cheers, used with anyone.

  • Pohjanmaan kautta is roughly "bottoms up", and it commits you to finishing the glass.
  • Said once, at the start, with the glasses touched. Repeating it through the evening is a party habit rather than a rule.

What kippis means

Kippis is the word you say raising a glass. It is short, casual and entirely standard, not slang, not old-fashioned.

You will find the word confidently traced to German kippen, to tilt. That account circulates mainly in hospitality marketing rather than in etymological reference works, so it is not repeated here as fact. What is safe to say is that kippis is a toasting interjection and nothing more. It does not mean anything on its own.

How Finns actually use kippis

Once, at the start, glasses raised and touched. Repeating it through the evening is more of a party habit than a rule.

Eye contact is normal and appreciated. Finland does not enforce it the way Sweden and Germany do, and nobody will be offended if you look at the glass.

Kippis is the everyday one. Skål comes in from Swedish and is common in Swedish-speaking Finland and among older speakers; Finns write it skool when they use it themselves. The formal slot belongs to malja - kohotetaan malja, "let us raise a toast" - which is what you will hear in a speech. Terveydeksi is not really a live toast: it is what Finns say when someone sneezes.

Pohjanmaan kautta - "via Ostrobothnia" - is bottoms up, and it is named for the gesture: the glass travels the long way round, over the shoulder or behind the head, before the shot goes down in one. It belongs to spirits, not beer. It is also dated and a bit hokey, so a foreigner saying it will be found funny rather than fluent.

Hölkyn kölkyn is a nonsense toast used generally. Hölökyn kölökyn is the Savo rendering of it, and those extra vowels are the point - the epenthetic vowel is a Savo dialect feature, not a different word. Said with amusement either way.

kippis in a sentence

  • Kippis! Cheers!
  • Kippis ja hyvää viikonloppua. Cheers, and have a good weekend.
  • Pohjanmaan kautta! Bottoms up!
kippis - two men knocking glasses together in a dim Finnish bar on a winter night, one already drinking
Said once, at the start, and then nobody says it again.

kippis at a glance

The everyday toast Kippis
Swedish-derived variant Skool
Formal register Malja
Bottoms up Pohjanmaan kautta
Eye contact Welcome, not required
Not a toast Terveydeksi
Works with Alcohol-free drinks

kippis in a conversation

No niin. Kippis!
Kippis.
Hyvää kesää.
Samoin.

The mistake everyone makes with kippis

Using terveydeksi as the toast. It is what you say when someone sneezes; at a table it sounds odd. If you want the formal register, it is malja.

Treating pohjanmaan kautta as a synonym for kippis. It is not; it means finish the glass.

Where you will actually hear kippis

The whole scene: the sauna , at the mökki

Questions people ask about kippis

How do you say cheers in Finnish?

Kippis. Skål - written skool by Finns - also works, especially in Swedish-speaking Finland and with older speakers. In a speech, kohotetaan malja.

What does pohjanmaan kautta mean?

Literally "via Ostrobothnia", in practice "bottoms up". The glass goes the long way round - over the shoulder or behind the head - and the shot is taken in one. It is dated and jokey, and it belongs to spirits.

Is eye contact required when toasting in Finland?

It is normal and appreciated, but not enforced the way it is in Sweden or Germany. Nobody will correct you.

What is terveydeksi?

"For health" - what Finns say when someone sneezes. It is not really used as a toast; the formal toast is malja.

What is hölökyn kölökyn?

The Savo rendering of hölkyn kölkyn, a nonsense toast. The extra vowels are a Savo dialect feature rather than a separate word.

Is kippis a bad word?

Safe everywhere. Eye contact is appreciated but not policed the way it is in Germany or Sweden.

moi - a woman at a Finnish supermarket checkout giving the smallest possible nod to the man stepping into the queue behind her
moi Say it once and it is hello, say it twice and you are leaving
kiitos - a waitress setting a beer down for an older man on a summer lake terrace
kiitos Finnish has no word for please, and this is what fills the gap
kalsarikännit - a man in a knitted cardigan and underwear in an armchair with a beer, thawing spring fields through the window
kalsarikännit Trousers off, curtains shut, nowhere to be
puhutko englantia - a young woman asking a halting question at a lit Finnish kiosk window in the snow, and getting the answer back without a pause
puhutko englantia The answer is yes, and that is the whole problem
anteeks - a young man squeezing past an older woman in a narrow Finnish supermarket aisle with one hand slightly raised, melting snow tracked across the floor
anteeks written anteeksi The most-used politeness word in the country, and the final letter falls off

Sources for kippis

  1. Kotus dictionaries, including Suomen murteiden sanakirja Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Where dialect forms such as the Savo hölökyn kölökyn and its epenthetic vowels are documented.
  2. Kielitoimiston sanakirja: kippis, terveydeksi, malja Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The toasting vocabulary and its register labels.
  3. Kielitoimiston ohjepankki Kielitoimiston ohjepankki, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Official guidance on writing interjections and fixed phrases such as toasts.
  4. Kotus dictionaries Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Where regional variants such as the Savo hölökyn kölökyn are documented.
  5. Kotus - Institute for the Languages of Finland Kotimaisten kielten keskus

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