Viking

See also: viking, víking, and vîkîng

English

Alternative forms

Variant spellings

• α-forms (<r>-terminal):
  • Vikinger, vikinger
  • Vikingir, vikingir
  • Vikingr, vikingr
• β-forms (<v>-initial, [ŋ]-terminal):
  • Viking, viking
• γ-forms (<w>-initial):
  • Wicking, wicking
  • Wiking, wiking

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse víkingr (“Viking”). Already in Old English as wīċing and Old Frisian wītsing, but assumed extinct in Middle English and borrowed anew in the 19th century; any survivals in dialect through the Middle Ages are unknown.

Old Norse víkingr itself is from Old Norse vík (“inlet, cove, fjord”) + -ingr (“one belonging to, one who frequents”) (the -r is the nominative desinence). Thus, “one from or who frequents the sea’s inlets”.

The Old English and Anglo-Frisian form, existing since at least the eighth century, could also have been derived from or influenced by Old English wīc (“camp”), on account of the temporary encampments which were often a prominent feature of the Vikings’ raids.

Others proposals were made, like e.g. deriving víkingr from the root related to the verb víkja or deriving both English and Old Norse words to *wīkingaz related to víkja or wīc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪkɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪkɪŋ

Noun

Viking (plural Vikings)

1. (historical) Scandinavian/Northern European seafarers, most familiarly raiders and pirates during the Viking age.
2. (by extension, fantasy) A stock character common in the fantasy genre, namely a barbarian, generally equipped with an axe or sword and a helmet adorned with horns.
3. (colloquial) A Norseman (medieval Scandinavian).
4. (colloquial, humorous, mildly offensive) An ethnic Swede, Norwegian, Dane, Icelander or Faroe Islander.
5. (American football) A player on the Minnesota Vikings NFL team.
6. (Japan) buffet; smorgasbord

Derived terms

• vike (jocular verb)
• Viking Age
• Viking disease
• viking (in attributive use)
• Vikingism
• Viking ship

 

Translations

One of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors

• Arabic: أُرْدَمَانِيّ m (ʔurdamāniyy) (historical or obsolete)

  Hijazi Arabic: فايكنق (fāyking, vāyking)

• Armenian: վիկինգ (hy) (viking)
• Bulgarian: викинг m (viking)
• Catalan: víking (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 維京人／维京人 (zh) (wéijīngrén)

• Danish: viking c
• Dutch: viking (nl) m
• Esperanto: vikingo
• Estonian: viiking
• Faroese: víkingur m
• Finnish: viikinki (fi)
• French: Viking (fr) m
• Galician: viquingo m
• Georgian: ვიკინგი (ka) (viḳingi)
• German: Wikinger (de) m
• Greek: Βίκινγκ (el) m or f (Víkingk)
• Hebrew: וִיקִינְג (he) m
• Hungarian: viking (hu)
• Icelandic: víkingur (is) m
• Irish: Uigingeach m, Lochlannach m
• Italian: vichingo (it) m
• Japanese: ヴァイキング (ja) (vaikingu)
• Korean: 바이킹 (baiking)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: vîkîng (ku)

• Lithuanian: vikingas m
• Low Saxon: Wikingers (in plural)
• Marathi: व्हायकिंग m (vhāykiṅga)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: viking (no) m

  Nynorsk: viking m

• Old English: wicing m
• Old Norse: víkingr m
• Polish: wiking (pl) m
• Portuguese: víquingue (pt) m or f, viquingue (pt) m or f
• Romanian: viking (ro) m
• Russian: ви́кинг (ru) m (víking)
• Scottish Gaelic: Lochlannach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: викинг m

  Latin: viking m

• Slovak: Viking m
• Spanish: vikingo (es) m
• Swahili: Mvikingi
• Swedish: viking (sv) c
• Thai: ชาวไวกิง (chaao wai-ging)
• Turkish: viking
• Vietnamese: người Viking
• Volapük: viken
• West Frisian: wytsing
• Yiddish: וויקינג m (viking)

Proper noun

Viking

1. A sea area between Scotland and Norway
2. A town in Alberta, Canada
3. A city in Minnesota

Anagrams

• Kinvig

Czech

Alternative forms

• viking

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse víkingr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɪkɪŋk]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Viking m anim

1. Viking

Declension

Declension of Viking (velar masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	Viking	Vikingové
genitive	Vikinga	Vikingů
dative	Vikingovi, Vikingu	Vikingům
accusative	Vikinga	Vikingy
vocative	Vikingu	Vikingové
locative	Vikingovi, Vikingu	Vikinzích
instrumental	Vikingem	Vikingy

Dutch

Alternative forms

• Wiking (dated, superseded)

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.kɪŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Vi‧king

Noun

Viking m (plural Vikingen)

1. A Viking.

French

FMIB 47769 Batiment de Guerre des Vikings (Scandinavie, viiie et ixe siecles) (Musee de Marine)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse víkingr (“Viking”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.kiŋ/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

Noun

Viking m or f by sense (plural Vikings)

1. (historical) Viking

Derived terms

• maladie des Vikings

Further reading

• “Viking”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse Víkingr, from víkingr (“Viking”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²viːçɪŋ/, /²viːkɪŋ/
• Homophone: viking

Proper noun

Viking m (definite Vikingen)

1. a male given name from Old Norse, meaning “Viking”

References

• Eivind Vågslid (1988) “Viking”, in Norderlendske fyrenamn (in Norwegian Nynorsk), →ISBN

Slovak

Etymology

Derived from Old Norse víkingr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvikiŋɡ/

Noun

Viking m anim

1. Viking

Declension

Declension of Viking

	singular	plural
nominative	Viking	Vikingovia
genitive	Vikinga	Vikingov
dative	Vikingovi	Vikingom
accusative	Vikinga	Vikingov
locative	Vikingovi	Vikingoch
instrumental	Vikingom	Vikingmi

References

• “Viking”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Swedish

Etymology

Originally a nickname, appearing in runestones, from Old Norse víkingr (“a Viking”). Revived as a given name since 1829.

Proper noun

Viking c (genitive Vikings)

1. a male given name from Old Norse

Anagrams

• knivig