Etymologically
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sauna

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɔː.nə/, /ˈsaʊ.nə/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Finnish sauna.[2][3][4][5][6] Klein glosses the Finnish word literally as "bathroom".[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Finnish bath-house and the steam bath taken in it: 1881, in P. B. Du Chaillu's Land of the Midnight Sun.[2][3][4][6] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1880–85.[8]

Semantic evolution

At first the word was used only of Finland, and Barnhart dates the reference to the steam bath itself, rather than the bath-house, to 1936.[4][3] By 1959 saunas were being installed in homes and gyms outside Finland.[3] The bath is taken in very hot steam made by throwing water on heated stones, often followed by a cold plunge or a light beating with birch twigs.[2][9] The verb, to take a sauna, is recorded from 1966 in Barnhart and 1967 in the OED.[4][2]

Timeline

  • 1881 – a Finnish bath-house.[2][3][4]
  • 1936 – the steam bath itself.[4]
  • 1959 – saunas in homes and gyms outside Finland.[3]
  • 1966 – verb, to take a sauna; the OED's first record is from 1967.[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A Finnish kind of steam bath, in which water is thrown on heated stones; also, a session in such a bath: They had a sauna after their swim.[9][6][2][10]
  2. A room or building in which such a bath is taken.[9][6][2]

Verb

  1. To take a sauna.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press