Fjord
/fjɔːrd/noun
A long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides, formed by glacial erosion.
Did you know?Fjord is a loanword from Old Norse fjǫrðr, and its deep family links show up in words for travel and passage across Indo-European languages.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*per-
“to pass over, cross”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*ferþuz
“a going, passage, journey”
Old Norse
ON
fjǫrðr
“a narrow sea inlet; a crossing or passage”
Middle English
English
fjord / fiord
“a narrow inlet of the sea”
Modern English
English
fjord
“a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides formed by glacial erosion”