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Fjord

Geology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A long, deep sea inlet bordered by steep cliffs, carved by glacial ice. It suggests grandeur, isolation, and flooded memory.

Detailed Definition
A fjord is a narrow, deep inlet of the sea created when a glacier carves a valley below sea level and later retreats, allowing ocean water to fill the channel. Its steep walls and dark water make it a landscape of scale, coldness, and enclosure. A poet may use a fjord to evoke remote grief, a passage between land and sea, or a memory cut deeply enough that it remains even after the force that made it has gone.
Example
Example in poetry:
The fjord held dark seawater between walls of rock carved by ancient glaciers; A poet may use a fjord's narrow water and steep cliffs to create a mood of enclosure, awe, or silence; “Boats became small in the fjord's shadow” emphasizes human scale against monumental landforms; A poem set at a fjord can contrast saltwater's movement with the apparent stillness of the surrounding mountains
Additional Notes
Fjords are glacial valleys later flooded by the sea. Their steep, water-filled depth combines beauty with isolation and suggests landscapes shaped by loss.
Other Meanings of “Fjord”
Also Known As
Fiord
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