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Varangian

Va·ran·gi·an/vəˈɹæn.d͡ʒi.ən/noun, adjective

Varangian is a noun meaning “A member of the ethnically Scandinavian people around the borders of Constantinople in the ninth and tenth centuries” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-A-R-A-N-G-I-A-N and has 4 syllables (Va·ran·gi·an), and it appears about once in every 28 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of Varangian is Varangians.

What does Varangian mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A member of the ethnically Scandinavian people around the borders of Constantinople in the ninth and tenth centuries.

  2. 2

    A member of the imperial body guard at Constantinople from 955.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or pertaining to the Varangians.

  2. 2

    Of or pertaining to the Varanger Peninsula in Norway.

  3. 3

    Pertaining to a period of intense glaciation during the late Proterozoic eon.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce Varangian?

  • /vəˈɹæn.d͡ʒi.ən/

Varangian has 4 syllables, split Va·ran·gi·an in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Varangian.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of Varangian

  • Varangians plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is Varangian?

Varangian appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 161,690th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Varangian in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense member of a Scandinavian tribe:

LanguageWords
FrenchVarègue
GermanWaräger
Portuguesevarangiano
Spanishvarego

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does Varangian come from?

Ultimately from Byzantine Greek Βάραγγος (Bárangos), from Medieval Latin Varingus, from Old Norse væringr, from várr (“pledge”) or værr (“pledge”), which is cognate with Old English wǣr (“fidelity, loyalty”), + Old Norse gangi (“companion”). Cognate with Old English wærgenga.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).