svalbard
/ˈsvɑlbɑɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.57 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
An archipelago, territory, and unincorporated area of Norway northeast of Greenland, in the Arctic Ocean.
Example Sentences
- "Together with Vitterso, she devised a ‘winter mindset questionnaire’ to assess people’s attitudes to winter in Tromso, the Svalbard archipelago and the Oslo area."
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Norse Svalbarð n probably through Norwegian. From svalr (“cool”) + barð (“edge, brim”), thus roughly meaning “cold shore”, probably alluding to the treeless landscape mostly covered with grass. The name was first attested in annales referring to year 1194, but it’s uncertain whether it referred to the modern archipelago. Cognate with Faroese Svalbarð, Icelandic Svalbarði and Norwegian Svalbard.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsvɑlbɑɹ/
- British English: /ˈsvælbɑː/