Translation of names of food and other common items:

A lot of food and goods in Iceland are imported from abroad, and thus their names are in English.
There are, however, some food and goods that have their names in Icelandic. Following is a
translation into English of a few of the most common:

Meat – kjöt (often the type of meat and the word “meat” are used in one word, eg: beef is nautakjöt
“beefmeat”):

 Chicken – Kjúklingur (also sometimes called Kjúlli)

 Lamb – Lambakjöt or kindakjöt
 Beef – Nautakjöt
 Kalf – Ungnautakjöt or Kálfakjöt
 Ham – Skínka
 Pork – Svínakjöt
 Young pork – Grísakjöt
 Bacon – Beikon

Types of meat cuts:

 Breast – Bringa
 Leg – Læri
 Wing – Vængi
 Minced meat – Hakk
 Steak – Steik
 Neck – Hnakki
 Leg – Læri
 Loin or Sirloin – Lundir
 Diced meat - Smásteik

Fish - fiskur:

 Cod – Þorsk
 Haddock – Ýsa
 Herring – Síld

Milk products - Mjólkurvörur:

 Milk – Mjólk (comes in three types)

o Nýmjólk (in blue cartons, has the most fat content)
o Léttmjólk (in yellow cartons, has less fat content)
o Undanrenna (in pink cartons, has very little fat content)
 Cream – Rjómi
 Butter – Smjörvi or Smjör
  Margarine – Smjörlíki or Ljómi
 Yoghurt – Jógúrt
 Sour milk - Súrmjólk

Vegetables – Grænmeti (most vegetables are laid out for all to see, so you should not need the
names except for a few items:

 Potatoes – Kartöflur
 Green peas – Grænar baunir
 Corn – Maís

Bread – Brauð (the most common type of bread is called “Heimilisbrauð”:

 White bread – Hveitibrauð or Fransbrauð

 Brown bread – Heilhveitibrauð
 Multi grain bread – Fjölkornabrauð