Valkyrie

noun

noun ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of valkyrie. alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla. Norse

    "Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1853) famously features valkyries."

  3. 3
    (Norse mythology) one of the maidens of Odin who chose heroes to be slain in battle and conducted them to Valhalla wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
valkyr

Example

More examples

"Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1853) famously features valkyries."

Etymology

Etymology 1

The proper noun Valkyries was attested before the common noun valkyries. See the entry valkyrie for more.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Norse valkyrja sg (“chooser of the slain”), plural valkyrjur pl, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzjǭ. Cognate to Old English wælcyrġe. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.

Related phrases

any of female attendants of odin figures said to guide fallen warriors from battlefield to valhalla

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.