viking
/ˈvaɪkɪŋ/noun
viking is spelled V-I-K-I-N-G: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, viking means “Alternative letter-case form of Viking” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of viking is vikings.
How many letters and syllables are in viking?
| Letters | 6: V-I-K-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is viking?
Viking appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th 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).
How do you pronounce viking?
- /ˈvaɪkɪŋ/
Viking has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Viking.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of viking
- vikings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does viking mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of Viking.
noun
- 1
Scandinavian/Northern European seafarers, most familiarly raiders and pirates during the Viking age.
- 2
A stock character common in the fantasy genre, namely a barbarian, generally equipped with an axe or sword and a helmet adorned with horns.
- 3
colloquialA Norseman (medieval Scandinavian).
- 4
colloquialoffensiveAn ethnic Swede, Norwegian, Dane, Icelander or Faroe Islander.
- 5
A player on the Minnesota Vikings NFL team.
- 6
buffet; smorgasbord
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Viking in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense One of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors:
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 viking come from?
Borrowed from Old Norse víkingr (“Viking”). Already in Old English as wīċing and Old Frisian wītsing, but assumed extinct in Middle English and borrowed anew in the 19th century; any survivals in dialect through the Middle Ages are unknown. Old Norse víkingr itself is from Old Norse vík (“inlet, cove, fjord”) + -ingr (“one belonging to, one who frequents”) (the -r is the nominative desinence). Thus, “one from or who frequents the sea’s inlets”.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).