sisu

S1I1S1U1
Australia/ˈsɪsʉː/

noun

Strength of will in the face of adversity; grit, perseverance or determination, regarded as an integral part of Finnish culture.

OriginFinnish sisu →
UncommonScrabble 4
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounsisu (uncountable)
  1. uncountableStrength of will in the face of adversity; grit, perseverance or determination, regarded as an integral part of Finnish culture.

    People living in northern climates need plenty of sisu.

    1999, Norma J. Livo, George O. Livo, The Enchanted Wood and Other Tales from Finland, →ISBN, page 5
    3 more examples

    Last week the Finns gave the world a good example of sisu by carrying the war into Russian territory on one front while on another they withstood merciless attacks by a reinforced Russian Army.

    1940 January 8, “Northern Theatre:Sisu”, in Time Magazine

    We agreed there was a pressing need for a systematic investigation of sisu, how Finns think about it, how it is propagated.

    2016, Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, →ISBN

    Life requires all of us to have a certain level of sisu when things get tough, which they inevitably will.

    2016, Katie Falkowski, GRIND: Greatness Rises in Each New Day: Get up, Show up, and Grind, →ISBN

Origin

  1. Finnishsisu
  2. Englishsisu

Borrowed from Finnish sisu, documented in English since at least 1940.

More words from Finnish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sisu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sisu

MLA

“sisu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sisu. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sisu,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sisu.

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