viking
n. countablen. a member of the group of people from Scandinavia who traveled by sea to trade and fight in Europe over a thousand years ago. They are famous for their long ships and for being strong warriors.
n. a member of the seafaring Scandinavian people who raided, traded, and settled across wide areas of Europe from the late 8th to the late 11th century. Often used to describe the culture and language of this historical period.
The Vikings sailed across the ocean in long wooden ships.
Archaeologists recently discovered a buried Viking ship that provides new evidence about how these ancient people lived and traveled.
While popular media often portrays the Viking as a mindless raider, historical evidence suggests a complex society of skilled traders, poets, and explorers who established vast networks across the North Atlantic.
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.
When referring to the historical group or the era, it is almost always capitalized.