Syldavia

S1Y4L1D2A1V4I1A1
/sɪlˈdeɪ.vi.ə/

proper noun

An imaginary country located in the Balkans and enemy of Borduria, in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

proper noun
  1. fictionAn imaginary country located in the Balkans and enemy of Borduria, in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin.

    Tintin and his loyal hound Snowy find themselves trying to thwart a plot by spies to overthrow the king of Syldavia, a fictional Balkan land.

    2020 June 25, Lifestyle Desk, “Tintin cover that mocked Hitler’s Germany to go under hammer”, in The Indian Express, archived from the original on 26 Jun 2020
    5 more examples

    But the name of Grand Fenwick doesn't occur in any history book, or show up in any atlas, unless it also maps Ruritania, Syldavia, Borduria, Oz or even Shangri-La.

    2016 September 18, Vikas Datta, “The small nation which beat the superpowers, global capitalism”, in The News Minute, archived from the original on 13 Nov 2022

    Graustark, Ruritania, Borduria, Syldavia and a score of imaginary kingdoms, usurped by tyrants and sundered by fights for the throne, leap into mind: plots, treachery, imprisoned heirs and palace factions abound and, along with them, fiendish monocled swordsmen, queens in lonely towers, toppling ranges, deep forests, plains full of half-wild horses, wandering tribes of Gypsies who steal children out of castles and dye them...

    1977, Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts, 1st edition, New York Review Books, →ISBN, archived from the original on 13 Nov 2022

    He made up two fictional countries, Borduria and Syldavia, and the struggles between the two were actually a satire on the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany.

    2017 May 22, Utkarsh Srivastava, “A Tintin Mystery: Why Hergé's comics continue to fascinate, 88 years after their debut”, in Firstpost, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2022

    Borduria and Syldavia, both fictional Balkan countries appearing in the Adventures of Tintin graphic novel, also merit a mention as places used to highlight the stereotypes about the southeastern parts of the continent.

    2022 November 4, Aleksandar Brezar, “What is Listenbourg? Why is it going viral on Twitter? Why did the meme become so big in Europe?”, in Euronews, archived from the original on 07 Nov 2022

    The reporter’s future adventures took him far and wide - even to outer space - and to a handful of fictionalised countries including Balkan states Borduria and Syldavia and the South American countries of San Theodoros, São Rico and Nuevo Rico.

    2017 7, The Newsroom, “When Tintin the intrepid fictional reporter came to Scotland”, in The Scotsman (Journal), archived from the original on 10 Nov 2022
  2. broadlyA generic name of a fictional country, generally contrasted with a rival counterpart Borduria.

    Consider two sets of death rates by age for two imaginary countries, Syldavia (S) and Borduria (B), as in Figure 15-1.

    2006, chapter 15, in Graziella Caselli, Jacques Vallin, Guillaume Wunsch, editors, Demography: Analysis and Synthesis, Four Volume Set: A Treatise in Population, 1st edition, Academic Press, →ISBN, archived from the original on 13 Nov 2022, pages 201–202
    5 more examples

    Finally, the sovereignty of the island has been continuously claimed by two sovereign states, Syldavia and Borduria. Syldavia is a medium size sovereign State with a large population, mainly Muslims.

    2017, Jorge E. Núñez, chapter 6, in Sovereignty Conflicts and International Law and Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue (Routledge Research in International Law), 1 edition, Routledge, →ISBN, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2022, page 134

    Is Syldavia a more unequal society than Borduria? For an inequality comparison to be meaningful, then the answer "yes, Syldavia is more unequal than Borduria" must also imply, in the other direction, "Borduria is less unequal than Syldavia."

    2000, Yoram Amiel, chapter 2, in Thinking about Inequality: Personal Judgment and Income Distributions, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2022, page 9

    Under these conditions, the prices in Borduria and Syldavia are 19 and 35 $/MWh, respectively. The value of transporting one additional megawatt-hour from Borduria to Syldavia is thus only 16 $/MWh. This is also the maximum price that consumers in Syldavia would agree to pay for the transport of a megawatt-hour that they have bought in Borduria for 19 $/MWh.

    2004, Daniel S. Kirschen and Goran Strbac, chapter 8, in Fundamentals of Power System Economics, 1 edition, Wiley, →ISBN, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2022, page 278

    Syldavia offers the metal to Borduria, but offers it only in exchange for Borduria signing a treaty for mutual defense. Is Syldavia acting in a coercive manner here?

    2013, Michael Blake, chapter 5, in Justice and Foreign Policy, 1 edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2022, page 121

    Imagine, for instance, that all states in the world - Borduria and Syldavia are the only ones, perhaps - are flourishing, and exceed whatever line of political adequacy you think makes legitimate. Borduria and Syldavia, in short, are both doing fine.

    2019, Michael Blake, Justice, Migration, and Mercy, Oxford University Press edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2022, page 55

Origin

  1. FrenchSyldavie
  2. EnglishSyldavia

From French Syldavie. Blend of Transylvanie + Moldavie. Coined by Hergé in 1939 for King Ottokar's Sceptre.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bengali সিলদাভিয়া
  • সিলদাভিয়া (śildabhiẏa)Translations
Chinese 西爾達維亞 /西尔达维亚
  • 西爾達維亞 /西尔达维亚Translations
Danish Syldavien
  • SyldavienTranslations
Dutch Syldavië
  • SyldaviëTranslations
Esperanto Sildavio
  • SildavioTranslations
Finnish Syldavia
  • SyldaviaTranslations
French Syldavie
  • SyldavieTranslations
German Syldavien
  • SyldavienTranslations
Indonesian Syldavia
  • SyldaviaTranslations
Italian Syldavia
  • SyldaviaTranslations
Japanese シルダビア
  • シルダビアTranslations
Korean 실다비아
  • 실다비아 (Sildabia)Translations
Norwegian Bokmål Syldavia
  • SyldaviaTranslations
Persian سیلداویا
  • سیلداویاTranslations
Portuguese Sildávia
  • SildáviaTranslations
Russian Сильдавия
  • Сильдавия (Silʹdavija)Translations
Spanish Syldavia
  • SyldaviaTranslations
Swedish Syldavien
  • SyldavienTranslations
Turkish Sildavya
  • SildavyaTranslations

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Syldavia

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Cite this entry
APA

Syldavia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Syldavia

MLA

“Syldavia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Syldavia. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Syldavia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Syldavia.

Source: Syldavia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.