a native or inhabitant of Scandinavia.
the group of languages composed of Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Old Norse, Swedish, and the language of the Faeroe Islands; North Germanic. Scand, Scand.
a native or inhabitant of Scandinavia
Also: Norse. the northern group of Germanic languages, consisting of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faeroese
First recorded in 1775–85; Scandinavi(a) + -an
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is associated with being able to afford life’s necessities and the kind of strong economic rights found in Norway and other Scandinavian countries.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Top-tier matches from the U.K. became a fixture of Norwegian television in 1969, back when there was only one channel and Scandinavian soccer used to take a winter hiatus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
The northern region, which Woodard calls "Yankeeland", is rooted in the early Puritan settlers who fled religious persecution in Europe, with later additions of Germans and Scandinavian settlers helping to solidify a pluralistic outlook.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Ibrahimovic, the son of immigrants to Sweden from the former Yugoslavia, was the Scandinavian dad urging his kids to ride bicycles to school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Except for the enclave of Europe with its Scandinavian and Icelandic regions, all the Arctic area was within the Northern Region.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
The two nations have almost identical populations, so how have the Scandinavians aced their plan of attack?
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
The Scandinavians were fueled by chefs and nutritionists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
Famously stoic Scandinavians have cultivated concepts like "hygge" -- or coziness -- to get them through the long winter nights.
From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025
Meanwhile, Scandinavians are known for rye bread and foraging, though the communal dining and variety in their diets are largely overlooked.
From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2025
For instance, today almost all Japanese and Scandinavians are literate but most Iraqis are not: why did writing nevertheless arise nearly four thousand years earlier in Iraq?
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.
