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. Already in (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English as wīcing and Old Frisian witsing, wising, but extinct in Middle English and borrowed anew in the 19th century.

Old Norse víking (“marauding, piracy”) itself is from Old Norse vík (“inlet, cove, fjord”) + -ing (“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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪkɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -aɪkɪŋ

Noun

Viking (plural Vikings)

1. (historical) One of the Scandinavian or other Northern European seafaring warriors that raided (and then settled) the British Isles and other parts of Europe in the 8^th to the 11^th centuries and, according to many historians, were the first Europeans to reach North America.
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 (mediaeval 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.

Derived terms

• vike (jocular verb)
• viking (in attributive use)
• Vikingism
• Vikingship

 

Translations

One of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors

• Arabic:

  Hijazi Arabic: فايكنق (fāyking, vāyking), ڤايكنق‎ (fāyking, vāyking)

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

  Mandarin: 維京人／维京人 (zh) (wéijīngrén), 维京人 (zh) (wéijīngrén)

• Danish: viking c
• Dutch: viking (nl) m
• Esperanto: vikingo
• 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 m
• Japanese: ヴァイキング (ja) (vaikingu)
• Korean: 바이킹 (baiking)
• Kurdish:
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: vikingas m
• Low Saxon: Wikingers (in plural)
• Marathi: व्हाय्किंग m (vhāykiṅga)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: viking (no) m

  Nynorsk: viking m

• Old English: wicing m
• Old Norse: víkingr m
• Polish: wiking (pl) m
• Portuguese: viquingue (pt) m, viking (pt) m or f
• 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)
• Turkish: viking
• Vietnamese: người Viking
• Volapük: viken
• West Frisian: wytsing

Proper noun

Viking

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

Anagrams

• Kinvig

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Czech

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

1. Viking

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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/
• Hyphenation: Vi‧king

Noun

Viking m (plural Vikingen)

1. A Viking.

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Slovak

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvikiŋɡ/

Noun

Viking m

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

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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.