fjord
Americannoun
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fjords
plural
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a long, narrow arm of the sea bordered by steep cliffs: usually formed by glacial erosion.
-
(in Scandinavia) a bay.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fjord
From Norwegian; see origin at firth
Explanation
A fjord is a long, narrow strip of sea that falls between tall cliffs. If you’re traveling in Norway you might be amazed by the rocky cliffs surrounding the deep water of a fjord. A fjord is formed when a slow moving glacier carves out a valley in the earth that then becomes flooded by ocean water. Tall cliffs surrounding a narrow band of water make fjords look very dramatic. Fjords are common in countries like Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. The word fjord gets its looks from its Norwegian origins. Pronounce this funny looking word with a long “e” sound and the accent on the first syllable: “FEE-ord.”
Vocabulary lists containing fjord
Physical Geography - Middle School
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Physical Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And the team’s official World Cup photo features the players dressed as Nordic warriors, weapons in hand, posed before a scenic fjord with long boats in the background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Conservationist and photographer Rebecca Douglas is part of a team researching whales in a remote Icelandic fjord, which has been recording their sounds for a year.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
Here in Kapisillit in western Greenland, a cluster of coloured houses cling to the hillside in a frozen fjord.
From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026
"I had seen the fjord and notable mountain features in the satellite images, but being there in person filled me with astonishment at what had happened."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 26, 2026
“Just think about being in a cool place. That always helps. Let’s pretend this is our new home in Norway. There’s a fjord outside and snow on the mountains.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The resulting images capture mountains and fjords dissolving into sky, rendered in the deep azure light of the Arctic Circle.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
"Normally the seals are on the ice or in the more calm waters. But today we had to sail all the way into the fjords to find them," the 37-year-old tells AFP.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
But his snowy path to immortality didn’t simply run through the fjords of Scandinavia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Hunters increasingly have to sail farther along the jagged coast of Sisimiut, navigating into the fjords for several hours to find them.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
But most of Greenland is covered by an ice cap, and even the two most favorable coastal fjords were marginal for Norse food production.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
