English Reference

Word

norwegian

Phoneticsnor·we·gian

/ˌnɔɹˈwidʒən/

Definitions

01a person

A1

n. a person who comes from Norway.

n. a person of Norwegian descent or a citizen of Norway.

“My new neighbour is a Norwegian who moved here to study engineering.”

“The delegation consisted of three Norwegians and two Swedes, all of whom were experts in polar ecology.”

02the language

A1

n. the language spoken in Norway.

n. the North Germanic language of Norway, existing in two official written forms: Bokmål and Nynorsk.

“She is learning Norwegian because she wants to work in Oslo next year.”

“Although he was fluent in German, he found the grammar of Norwegian surprisingly accessible during his first semester of study.”

Usage

Uncountable when referring to the language.

03relating to Norway

A1

adj. related to the country of Norway, its people, or its language.

adj. of or pertaining to Norway, its inhabitants, or their culture and language.

“We enjoyed some delicious Norwegian salmon at the seafood restaurant.”

“The Norwegian government has invested heavily in renewable energy projects across the North Sea.”

Usage

Always capitalised.

Etymology

From Medieval Latin Norvegia (from Old Norse Norvegr (“Norway”)) + -an, with v replaced by w due to influence from earlier English Norwayan (“Norwegian”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Frequent
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/norwegian

English Reference