A small country in the middle of western Europe, held between France, Germany, Austria, and Italy, and full of high mountains — the Alps — and lakes. Its capital is Bern, though Zurich and Geneva are better known abroad. About eight million people live there. There is no one Swiss language: German, French, and Italian are all official, and which one you hear depends on which part you are standing in.

What the name really carries, beyond the mountains, is neutrality. Switzerland does not take sides in wars. It stayed out of both World Wars while fighting went on all around it, and it is not in the European Union. It joined the United Nations only in 2002 — quite late, and after a public vote. Because of this history, Geneva is where the world goes to talk: the Red Cross was founded there, and many international meetings happen there.

That reputation gives the word a second use in ordinary English. If you say "I'm Switzerland here", you mean you refuse to take a side in someone else's argument. This is common in speech and always understood.

The adjective and the word for the people is Swiss, not "Switzerlandish" — Swiss cheese, a Swiss bank, my Swiss friend.