Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A region of northern Europe consisting of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands are often included in the region.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun political Denmark, Norway, and Sweden collectively.
  • proper noun The Scandinavian peninsula (approximately Norway, Sweden and northern Finland).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the peninsula in northern Europe occupied by Norway and Sweden
  • noun a group of culturally related countries in northern Europe; Finland and Iceland are sometimes considered Scandinavian

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin Scandināvia, from Proto-Germanic *Skaþinawjō (“Scadia island”) (compare Old English Scedenig, Old Norse Skaney 'southern tip of Sweden'), from *-aujo 'island' (compare Old English ī(e)g 'island', Old Norse ey 'island').

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