Danish is the official language in Denmark. It is a Germanic language that is part of the Indo-European language family. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Danish are Swedish, Norwegian, English, German, and Swiss German.
- Swedish (89.7)
Sweden is located just across the Baltic Sea from Denmark. The two countries were even part of one kingdom for many decades. As a result, many Danish and Swedish words are identical or only one letter different. For example, “book” is “bog” in Danish and “bok” in Swedish. In addition, the word for “house” is “hus” in both languages. - Norwegian (82.3)
Norwegian, like Swedish, is closely related to Danish. Historically, Norway was under Danish rule for centuries, which led to significant linguistic overlap. Norwegian Bokmål (one of the two official written standards in Norway) is heavily influenced by Danish, sharing a near-identical written form. However, Nynorsk differs more significantly. - English (75.4)
The Viking invasions of England in the early Middle Ages brought Old Norse influence into English, leading to shared vocabulary and other linguistic elements. As a result, a surprising number of common words in Danish and English are similar, owing to their shared Germanic roots. Words like arm, hand, and man are almost identical. - German (71.7)
Danish and German are both West Germanic languages, and although they have evolved differently, they share several linguistic features. A lot of everyday words are similar, such as morgen (morning) and vinter (winter). Danish borrows extensively from Low German due to historical trade and political influence in the region. - Swiss German (70.7)
Primarily spoken in Switzerland, Swiss German has unique features that set it apart from Standard German. Despite being geographically distant, these languages share a number of similarities. For example, house in Swiss German is huus and in Danish it is hus. As with German, Swiss German reflects the shared heritage of the Germanic languages.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people, therefore Icelandic did not make the list)