Brobdingnag
/ˌbrɒbdɪŋˈnæɡ/noun
A place or situation of enormous scale; originally the name of a land of giants in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
Did you know?Brobdingnag is not a traditional old word at all: Jonathan Swift invented it in 1726, and its giant-sized sound helped make it feel like a real foreign kingdom.
Etymological Timeline
1726
English
Brobdingnag
“An invented giant kingdom in Gulliver’s Travels”
18th Century
English
Brobdingnagian
“Relating to Brobdingnag; gigantic in scale”
19th Century
English
brobdingnagian
“Enormous; gigantic; from Swift’s fictional land”
Modern English
English
brobdingnagian
“Extremely large or massive in size”