glen

See also: Glen, and Gleń

English

WOTD – 25 June 2017

Etymology

Raven’s Craig Glen in Dalry, North Ayrshire, Scotland, UK

From Middle English glen, borrowed from Irish gleann and Scottish Gaelic gleann, Old and Middle Irish glend, glenn (“mountain valley”), from Proto-Celtic *glendos (“valley”), hypothetically from Proto-Indo-European *glend- (“shore”) but the word may have been borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language. Compare Manx glion, Welsh glyn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɛn/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

glen (plural glens)

1. A secluded and narrow valley, especially one with a river running through it; a dale; a depression between hills.

Derived terms

• Glen Rose
• Glenrothes
• Great Glen
• Watkins Glen

Translations

secluded and narrow valley

• Armenian: հովիտ (hy) (hovit), լեռնագոգ (hy) (leṙnagog)
• Bulgarian: клисура (bg) f (klisura)
• Catalan: barranc (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幽谷 (zh) (yōugǔ)

• Czech: perina
• Dutch: dal (nl) n, vallei (nl)
• Finnish: notko (fi)
• French: vallon (fr) m
• Galician: valga f
• German: Tobel (de) m or n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: please add this translation if you can

  Ancient: νάπη f (nápē), ἄγκος n (ánkos), βῆσσα f (bêssa)

• Irish: gleann m
• Macedonian: клисура f (klisura), глен m (glen)
• Manx: glion
• Portuguese: cânion (pt) m, ravina (pt) f
• Russian: лощи́на (ru) f (loščína)
• Scottish Gaelic: gleann m, glenn
• Serbo-Croatian: gudura (sh) f
• Spanish: barranca f
• Welsh: glyn (cy)

See also

• defile (noun)
• strath

Further reading

• glen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• NELG

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Manx

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɛn/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish glan, from Proto-Celtic *glanos (“clean, clear”).

Adjective

glen (plural glenney, comparative glenney)

1. clean, hygienic
2. clear
3. pure
4. downright, unqualified, emphatic

Etymology 2

From Old Irish glanaid (“cleanses, purifies, purges”), from the adjective.

Verb

glen (verbal noun glenney, past participle glennit or glent)

1. clean
2. clear
3. wipe
4. purify, cleanse

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Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *glěnь.

Noun

glen m inan

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Further reading

• “glen”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024