Sauna
/ˈsaʊ.nə/noun
A heated room or small building used for bathing and sweating.
Did you know?In Finnish culture, the sauna was historically a near-sacred space for birth, healing, purification, and even preparing the dead, which is why the word carries so much cultural weight.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Finnic
PF
*souna
“A sweat bath or bathhouse”
Old Finnish
Finnish
sauna
“A bathhouse or steam bath”
19th Century
English
sauna
“A Finnish steam bath”
Modern English
English
sauna
“A heated room used for sweating and bathing”