Word.ws English Dictionary

Icelandish

Icelandish proper noun: icelandic (North Germanic tongue; Iceland's official language).

Proper noun

Icelandish

  1. (rare, dated outside linguistic and puristic usage) Icelandic (North Germanic tongue; Iceland's official language).
    • Some geographical manuscripts written in the Icelandish language in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and based in part on the statement of the Abbot Nicholas of Thingeyre, who died in 1159 A.d., according to Storm, Werlauff, and Rafn, also bear early witness to the discovery of Vinland by Leif...1903, United States Catholic Historical Society, Historical Records and Studies
    • A short time ago open war broke out between the two elements over the new translation of the Bible into the Icelandish language, which had been prepared by Haraldus Nielsson, a teacher in the Theological Seminary at Reykjavik, [...]1911, The Missionary review
    Synonyms:
    Icelandic

Adjective

Icelandish (comparative more Icelandish, superlative most Icelandish)

  1. Icelandic (of or relating to the North Germanic language spoken in Iceland).
  2. Icelandic (of or relating to the natives or inhabitants of Iceland).
    • And another Icelandish writer of the tenth century records that, about thirty years afterwards, a vessel with a mixed crew of Irishmen and Icelanders was carried off the west coast of Ireland by an easterly wind to this western land called in the record: "Great Ireland"; [...]1905, John Daniel Crimmins, Irish-American historical miscellany
  3. Icelandic (of, relating to, or originating from Iceland).
    • Once a year His Excellency came to St. Petersburg, on leave of absence; but, according to the showing of the crusty cicerone, the young person of Icelandish extraction was as cold as the country of her birth, [...]1895, George Augustus Sala, The life and adventures of George Augustus Sala

Synonyms of Icelandish

Forms of Icelandish

comparativemore Icelandish
superlativemost Icelandish

Origin of Icelandish

From Middle English *Islandish, *Islondisch, equivalent to Iceland + -ish. Compare Dutch IJslands, German Isländisch, Danish islandsk, Icelandic íslenskur.

Questions about Icelandish

What does Icelandish mean?
Icelandish means icelandic (North Germanic tongue; Iceland's official language).
What part of speech is Icelandish?
Icelandish can be a proper noun or an adjective.

Words near Icelandish in the dictionary

  1. Icelandicizes
  2. Icelandicizing
  3. Icelandick
  4. Icelandicness
  5. Icelandics
  6. Icelandish
  7. icelandite
  8. Icelandman
  9. Icelandmen
  10. icelands
  11. Icelandwoman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Icelandish (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ne-icelandish.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Icelandish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/icelandish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.