fjöldi

Fjöldi is an Icelandic noun meaning a large number, a crowd, or a population. It is used to describe the size of a group of people or things and commonly appears in phrases such as fjöldi fólks (a large number of people) and íbúafjöldi (the population). In many constructions fjöldi governs the following noun in the genitive, for example fjöldi fyrirtækja (the number of companies) or fjölda starfsmanna (of employees).

Etymology and relation to other terms: Fjöldi derives from Old Norse and related North Germanic roots that carried the sense of multitude or crowd. In modern Icelandic it retains a broad sense of quantity and collective size, and it forms part of many compound terms describing counts or populations, such as íbúafjöldi, verkfræðifjöldi (in more technical usage), and fjölda tagna (in contexts referring to counts of items).

Usage and nuances: The word functions as a mass-like measure of quantity and is widespread in media, statistics, and everyday speech. It can express both a numerical sense (a large number) and a referent group (the crowd). When counting, fjöldi often appears with other nouns in genitive form, a pattern used to specify what is being counted, such as fjöldi verka, fjöldi uppfærslna, or fjölda skráðra atvika. While the concept is simple, fjöldi supports a range of precise expressions in official statistics, journalism, and general discourse.

See also: population, crowd, count, demographic statistics.