cairn
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Cairn_Gavrinis_exterieur.jpg/220px-Cairn_Gavrinis_exterieur.jpg)
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Scots cairn, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Scottish Gaelic carn (“heap of stones”), from Proto-Celtic *karnos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“horn”).
Compare Old Irish carn, Welsh carn, Cornish carn.
Pronunciation
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Noun
cairn (plural cairns)
- A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
- 1826, Thomas Campbell, Glenara, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, page 105:
- "Now here let us place the gray stone of her cairn: / Why speak ye no word!"—said Glenara the stern.
- 1826, Thomas Campbell, Glenara, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, page 105:
- 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.
- A cairn terrier.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- cairned (adjective)
- cairn terrier
Translations
monument
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landmark
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terrier — see cairn terrier
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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References
- “cairn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “cairn”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.