Danish
Americanadjective
noun
-
a North Germanic language, the language of Denmark, closely related to Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic. Dan, Dan.
-
(sometimes lowercase) Danish pastry.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- anti-Danish adjective
- non-Danish adjective
- pro-Danish adjective
Etymology
Origin of Danish
First recorded before 900; Middle English, alteration of Denshe, Danshe, Dench (by influence of Dan “(a) Dane”), Old English Denisc , from Germanic daniskaz; see origin at Dane, -ish 1
Explanation
A danish is a sweet breakfast roll filled with custard, jam, or marzipan. If you're invited to brunch at a friend's house, she'll be happy to see you arrive with a box of danishes. If you order coffee and a danish at a diner, you'll get a flaky, buttery pastry topped with cheese or fruit — not a person from Denmark. The word is short for "danish pastry," which is actually called wienerbrød, or "Viennese bread" in Denmark. The popular history of the danish involves a strike by Danish bakery workers which led bakeries to hire Austrian bakers, who brought their own recipes for pastries rich with butter and egg.
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.
"It was in our Danish material that we first detected a signal. That gave us a concrete hypothesis, which we were then able to investigate in larger datasets," says Flemming Damgaard.
From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026
Local police confirmed the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning in Herning - the central Danish town where Midtjylland are based.
From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026
Not surprisingly, others have not been able to replicate Swan’s findings, not even those in which she has collaborated—for example, these recent Danish or Spanish studies.
From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026
Novo Nordisk gained 3.6% in the U.S. after the Danish drugmaker unveiled a partnership with OpenAI.
From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026
Dawn Madden unpeeled a squashed Danish pastry from a paper bag.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
