borða

Borða is the Icelandic verb meaning “to eat” or “to consume food.” It denotes the act of eating and is used for people and animals in everyday language. In Icelandic, borða is a transitive verb and takes a direct object in the accusative case; for example, Ég borða fisk means “I am eating fish.” The verb appears in menus, recipes, and descriptions of meals and is a core part of everyday food vocabulary.

In modern Icelandic, borða follows the standard patterns of regular -a verbs in its finite conjugation, with forms that vary by person and number for the present and past tenses, among others. Phrases and sentences using borða are common across registers, from casual speech to more formal writing.

Etymologically, borða derives from Old Norse and is cognate with related North Germanic words for eating. The verb has been a stable part of Icelandic lexicon for centuries and remains the primary term used to express the act of eating in contemporary Icelandic.

Usage notes emphasize borða’s neutrality and versatility. It is the default choice for describing eating in most contexts, while dialectal or poetic variants may use other terms for eating, depending on historical or stylistic preferences. Overall, borða is essential for basic communication about meals, appetite, and food.