største

Største is the plural superlative form of the adjective stor in Norwegian and Danish, meaning the largest or greatest when comparing more than one item. It is used with plural nouns to express that something is at the top of a size or importance ranking, as in de største byene i landet (the largest cities in the country) or de største utfordringene (the greatest challenges).

In practice, største appears most often in phrases describing groups of objects, places, or concepts. For singular references, the corresponding forms are den største (the largest) or det største, depending on gender and definiteness. The usage and exact inflection can vary between Bokmål and Nynorsk in Norwegian, and between Danish and Norwegian conventions for definite and plural forms, but the core meaning remains the same: it marks the upper extreme within a set.

Etymology and related forms: Største derives from stor, which traces back to Old Norse stor and Proto-Germanic *storaz. It has cognates in other Germanic languages, including English greatest, reflecting a shared Indo-European heritage for expressions of size and degree. The word is common in newspapers, education, geography, and everyday language when ranking items by size or significance.

See also: stor (large), større (larger), størst (largest). Contextual usage may differ slightly between Norwegian and Danish, but the concept of the superlative remains consistent across both languages.