Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

shieldmaiden

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.27 in modern English

Syllables: shield-maid-en
IPA

19

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.

Example Sentences

"The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity."
"The Anglosaxon belief in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a darkened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived."
"Störkud rushed through the ranks with a drawn sword and killed one after another; he cut down Hjört; whereupon Visma, shieldmaiden, who carried the standard of Harald, met him."
"There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North!"

Etymology

From shield + maiden. Calque from Old Norse skjaldmær (“shieldmaiden”).

Inflected Forms

shieldmaidens (plural) shield-maiden (alternative) shield maiden (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

amazon fighteress fightress gladiatrix valkyrie virago warrioress

Synonyms

shieldmaid shield-maid shieldmay shield-may

Questions

What does shieldmaiden mean?: A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.
Where does shieldmaiden come from?: From shield + maiden. Calque from Old Norse skjaldmær (“shieldmaiden”).

How to pronounce shieldmaiden

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “shieldmaiden”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “shieldmaiden”.
Repeat and practice — Say “shieldmaiden” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.