cairn

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Scots cairn, from Scottish Gaelic carn (“heap of stones”); compare Old Irish carn, Welsh carn, probably from a Proto-Celtic word meaning ‘horn’.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /kɛən/, X-SAMPA: /kE@n/
• (US) IPA: /kɛərn/, X-SAMPA: /kE@rn/

Noun

cairn (plural cairns)

1. A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.

   Now here let us place the gray stone of her cairn. -Campbell.

2. A pile of stones heaped up as a landmark, to guide travelers on land or at sea, or to arrest attention, as in surveying, or in leaving traces of an exploring party, etc.
3. A cairn terrier.

Derived terms

• cairned a
• cairn terrier

Synonyms

• burial mound

Translations

monument

• Finnish: hautakumpu (fi)
• Malay: batu tanda (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gravrøys (nb) m and f

  Nynorsk: gravrøys (nn) f

• Russian: каирн (ru) m (kairn)
• Scottish Gaelic: càrn (gd) m
• Spanish: mojón (es) m
• Swedish: röse (sv) n

landmark

• Faroese: varði (fo) m
• Finnish: kummeli (fi)
• German: Steinpyramide (de) f, Steinhügel (de) m
• Icelandic: varða (is) f
• Italian: ometto (it) m

• Norwegian: varde (no) f, røys (no) f
• Old Norse: hreysi
• Russian: ориентир (ru) m (orijentir)
• Scottish Gaelic: càrn (gd) m

terrier — see cairn terrier

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: varða f

References

• cairn in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913