dybde

Dybde is a noun in Norwegian and Danish that denotes the distance from a surface to its bottom or innermost limit. It is used for physical contexts such as the depth of water, where it describes how deep a body of water is from surface to seabed, and for solids like soil or rock, where it indicates vertical extent downward. The term is also used metaphorically to refer to depth of meaning, complexity, or experience.

Depth is usually expressed in meters or feet. In hydrography, depth is measured by sounding lines historically and today by sonar-based methods such as echo sounding, multi-beam sonar, or lidar in shallow waters. Bathymetric surveys map depth across water bodies. In geology and soil science, depth is measured with probes, cores, or boreholes. In other fields, depth can describe data structures, perceptual richness, or narrative layering.

The word derives from Old Norse dýpt and has cognates in Danish dybde and Swedish djup, reflecting a shared Germanic heritage. In English, the closest general term is depth, but languages differ in form and usage. Related topics include bathymetry, which studies the depth and topography of underwater surfaces.