tölva

which everyone uses to mean computer

Coined in the 1960s when the University of Iceland got its first machine. A seeress who divines with numbers.

skriðdreki

which everyone uses to mean military tank

First printed in 1917. Icelandic already had bryndreki, an armour dragon, for a warship.

mörgæs

which everyone uses to mean penguin

skjaldbaka

which everyone uses to mean turtle, tortoise

hugmynd

which everyone uses to mean idea

gluggaveður

which everyone uses to mean weather that looks lovely from indoors and betrays you the moment you step outside

dalalæða

which everyone uses to mean low fog that forms overnight and creeps along the ground

bergmál

which everyone uses to mean echo

dýragarður

which everyone uses to mean zoo

þvottabjörn

which everyone uses to mean raccoon

Same picture as German Waschbär.

flóðhestur

which everyone uses to mean hippopotamus

Greek got there first: hippopotamos is already a river horse.

páfagaukur

which everyone uses to mean parrot

nashyrningur

which everyone uses to mean rhinoceros

smokkfiskur

which everyone uses to mean squid

Smokkur has since picked up a second, more modern meaning, which is why Icelanders still smirk at this one.

sjónvarp

which everyone uses to mean television

ljósmynd

which everyone uses to mean photograph

rafmagn

which everyone uses to mean electricity

Amber turns up because rubbing it was the first way anyone saw static charge. Greek elektron did the same job.

farsími

which everyone uses to mean mobile phone

lyklaborð

which everyone uses to mean keyboard

hraðbanki

which everyone uses to mean cash machine, ATM

gervihnöttur

which everyone uses to mean satellite

geimfari

which everyone uses to mean astronaut

eldflaug

which everyone uses to mean rocket

ísskápur

which everyone uses to mean refrigerator

handklæði

which everyone uses to mean towel

vasaljós

which everyone uses to mean torch, flashlight

bókasafn

which everyone uses to mean library

flugdólgur

which everyone uses to mean a passenger who makes a scene on a plane

þórðargleði

which everyone uses to mean pleasure at someone else's misfortune

Iceland did not borrow Schadenfreude. It named the feeling after one specific ill-natured farmer.

sólarhringur

which everyone uses to mean a full 24 hours

fjölskylda

which everyone uses to mean family

lögregla

which everyone uses to mean police

jökulhlaup

which everyone uses to mean a flood released when a volcano melts the ice above it

One of the few Icelandic words English borrowed back, unchanged, as a geology term.

eldgos

which everyone uses to mean volcanic eruption

leðurblaka

which everyone uses to mean bat

Batman is Leðurblökumaðurinn in Icelandic — the leather-flap man. Iceland translates the name rather than borrowing it, which is why the caped crusader sounds like a laundry accident.

gæsalappir

which everyone uses to mean quotation marks

ljósmóðir

which everyone uses to mean midwife

spékoppar

which everyone uses to mean dimples

nábrók

which everyone uses to mean necropants — trousers made from a dead man's skin, worn to attract money

From Icelandic folk magic. A replica is on display at the Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft in Hólmavík, which is the only reason anyone can picture them.

rokrassgat

which everyone uses to mean a place that is relentlessly, famously windy

brúðkaup

which everyone uses to mean wedding

handleggur

which everyone uses to mean arm

ástfanginn

which everyone uses to mean in love

viðskiptavinur

which everyone uses to mean customer

knéfiðla

which everyone uses to mean cello

eldspýta

which everyone uses to mean a match

eldfjall

which everyone uses to mean volcano

ratljóst

which everyone uses to mean just enough daylight left to find your way home

ljósapera

which everyone uses to mean lightbulb

brjóstahaldari

which everyone uses to mean bra

hvalreki

which everyone uses to mean a beached whale — and, figuratively, a windfall

On an island living close to the edge, a whale washing up was a genuine stroke of luck, and the word still carries that second sense.

útrásarvíkingur

which everyone uses to mean one of the celebrity financiers who bought up half of Europe before Iceland's banks collapsed in 2008

Coined by the Icelandic press on the way up, and left in place on the way down.

orðabók

which everyone uses to mean dictionary

The name of this site, and built the same way as everything in it. English took dictionary from Latin and hid the seam; Icelandic used two words a child already knows.