cairn

English

The Cairn of Gavrinis, Brittany

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

• IPA^(key): /kɛən/
• IPA^(key): /kɛəɹn/

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.
   • 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.

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.

Synonyms

• burial mound

Derived terms

• cairned (adjective)
• cairn terrier

Translations

monument

• Chinese: 石冢 (shízhǒng)
• Danish: stendynge c
• Estonian: kivikuhil
• Finnish: hautakumpu (fi)
• French: cairn (fr) m
• Galician: carnoedo m, milladoiro m
• Hebrew: גַּלְעֵד (he) m (gal'éd)
• Malay: batu tanda
• Maori: hāpapa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gravrøys m or f

  Nynorsk: gravrøys f

• Portuguese: moledro m
• Russian: каирн m (kairn)
• Scottish Gaelic: càrn m
• Spanish: mojón (es) m, punto de referencia m
• Swedish: röse (sv) n, stenröse (sv) n, gravröse n

landmark

• Danish: varde c
• Faroese: varði m
• Finnish: kummeli (fi)
• French: montjoie (fr) f
• Galician: marco m, amallón m, mollón m, mouteira (gl) f, xilzo m, fito m, alveiro m, padrón m
• German: Steindaube f, Steinmännchen n, Steinpyramide f, Steinhügel m
• Hungarian: kőhalom (hu)
• Icelandic: varða (is) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ometto (it) m
• Maori: hāpapa
• Norwegian: varde (no) f, røys (no) f
• Old Norse: hreysi
• Portuguese: moledro m
• Russian: ориенти́р (ru) m (orijentír)
• Scottish Gaelic: càrn m

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

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} varða (is) f
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 서낭당 (ko) (seonangdang)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Mongolian: овоо (ovoo)

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.

Anagrams

• CARIN, Crain, Nicar., racin'