rowan

See also: Rowan

English

A European rowan

Etymology 1

Originally Scots and northern English, from Middle English ron, rone, compare also Northern English raan, ran. At first referring to its fruits, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse reynir.

Also related to Norwegian Bokmål rogn, Danish røn. Ultimately related to the root of red.

Alternative forms

• roan (archaic)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹəʊ.ən/, /ˈɹaʊ.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaʊ.ən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊ.ən/, (uncommon) /ˈɹaʊ.ən/
• Rhymes: -əʊən, -aʊən

Noun

rowan (plural rowans)

1. Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan.

   Synonyms: mountain ash, quickbeam, wicken, wicky

   • 2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 6 January 2026:

     Among the pines grew rowans hung with scarlet berries, and bilberry bushes whose leaves would be fair game for white moth caterpillars in spring.

2. Any of various small deciduous trees or shrubs of genus Sorbus, belonging to the rose family, with pinnate leaves, corymbs of white flowers, and usually with orange-red berries.
3. (obsolete) wych-elm, Ulmus glabra.

Derived terms

• flying rowan
• rowanberry

Translations

Sorbus aucuparia

• Albanian: vadhë e egër f
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: беле (bele)

• Arabic: غُبَيْرَاء f (ḡubayrāʔ), غُبَيْرَاء أُورُوبِّيَّة f (ḡubayrāʔ ʔūrūbbiyya)
• Armenian: արոսենի (hy) (aroseni)
• Bashkir: миләш (miləş), мышар (mışar)
• Belarusian: рабіна звычайная f (rabina zvyčajnaja)
• Breton: kerzhin-evned
• Bulgarian: офика (bg) f (ofika), самодивско дърво (samodivsko dărvo)
• Catalan: moixera de guilla f
• Czech: jeřáb ptačí m
• Danish: almindelig røn c, røn c, rønnebærtræ n
• Dutch: wilde lijsterbes (nl) f, gewone lijsterbes f
• Erzya: пизёл (piźol)
• Esperanto: sorparbo
• Estonian: harilik pihlakas
• Finnish: pihlaja (fi), kotipihlaja (fi)
• French: sorbier des oiseleurs (fr) f
• Galician: capudre (gl) m, cancereixo (gl) m, canfreixo m, cornabude (gl) m, raño m, sorbeira (gl) f, sorba (gl) f
• Georgian: ცირცელი (circeli)
• German: Eberesche (de) f, Vogelbeere (de) f
• Greek: σουρβιά των πτηνοθήρων f (sourviá ton ptinothíron), σορβιά (el) f (sorviá)
• Hungarian: madárberkenye (hu)
• Icelandic: ilmreynir (is) m
• Ingrian: pihlaja, rebinapuu
• Irish: caorthann m
• Italian: sorbo degli uccellatori (it) m
• Japanese: セイヨウナナカマド
• Kazakh: шетен (şeten)
• Kyrgyz: четин (ky) (cetin)
• Latin: ornus f
• Latvian: parastais pīlādzis m, pucene f (dialectism)
• Lithuanian: aprastasis šermukšnis m
• Mansi:

  Northern Mansi: ^{(please verify)} пасяр (pasâr)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rogn (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: rogn m or f, raun m

• Old Norse: reynir m
• Persian: جیلان (jilân), تیس (fa) (tis), بارانک (fa) (bârânak)
• Polish: jarząb pospolity (pl) m, jarzębina (pl) f
• Portuguese: tramazeira (pt) f, cornogodinho m
• Romanian: scoruș-de-munte (ro) m, scoruș-păsăresc (ro) m
• Russian: ряби́на обыкнове́нная f (rjabína obyknovénnaja), ряби́на (ru) f (rjabína)
• Scottish Gaelic: : caorann m, caora-caorainn f
• Serbo-Croatian: jarebika (sh) f
• Spanish: serbal de los cazadores m, azarollo m
• Swedish: rönn (sv) c
• Turkish: kuş üvezi (tr)
• Udmurt: горд палэзь (gord paleź)
• Ukrainian: гороби́на звича́йна f (horobýna zvyčájna)
• Walloon: håvurna (wa)
• Welsh: criafol f pl

tree or shrub of the genus Sorbus

• Altai:

  Southern Altai: беле (bele)

• Armenian:

  Middle Armenian: սին (sin)

• Bashkir: миләш (miləş), мышар (mışar)
• Belarusian: рабі́на f (rabína)
• Catalan: server (ca) m, servera f, moixera f
• Czech: jeřáb (cs) m
• Danish: røn c
• Dutch: lijsterbes (nl) f
• Estonian: pihlakas
• Faroese: royniviður m, roynitræ n
• Finnish: pihlaja (fi)
• French: sorbier (fr) f, alisier (fr) f
• Galician: sorbeira (gl) f
• German: Mehlbeere (de) f
• Greek: σόρβον n (sórvon)
• Hungarian: berkenye (hu)
• Icelandic: reynir (is) m, reynitré (is) n, reyniberjatré n
• Italian: sorbo (it) m
• Japanese: ナナカマド (ja) (nanakamado), ナナカマド属 (nanakamado zoku)
• Kazakh: шетен (şeten)
• Kyrgyz: четин (ky) (cetin)
• Latvian: pīlādzis (lv) m, sērmūkslis m
• Lithuanian: šermukšnis m
• Mansi:

  Northern Mansi: пася̄рйив (pasâ̄rjiv)

• Polish: jarząb (pl) m, jarzębina (pl) f
• Portuguese: sorveira (pt) f
• Russian: ряби́на (ru) f (rjabína)
• Sami:

  Inari Sami: pihlejâš, pihlájâš

• Scottish Gaelic: : caorann m
• Slovak: jarabina (sk) f
• Slovene: jerebika f
• Swedish: rönn (sv) c
• Turkish: üvez (tr)
• Udmurt: палэзь (paleź)
• Ukrainian: гороби́на f (horobýna)
• Vietnamese: thanh hương trà

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

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} غبيراء
• Aragonese: ^{(please verify)} sorbus
• Azerbaijani: ^{(please verify)} quşarmudu
• Bashkir: ^{(please verify)} миләш (miləş)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 花楸 (zh) (huāqiū)

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} lijsterbes (nl)
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} sorba (gl)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} vörösberkenye
• Kazakh: ^{(please verify)} шетен (şeten)
• Latgalian: ^{(please verify)} cārmyukša f
• Ossetian: ^{(please verify)} цъуй (c’uj)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} oskoruša (sh) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: ^{(please verify)} mučnica

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} sorbus
• Turkish: (bitki) ^{(please verify)} üvez (tr)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} thanh lương trà
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} criafolen
• Yakut: ^{(please verify)} сарбанньах (sarbanňaq)

Etymology 2

Noun

rowan (plural rowans)

1. Alternative form of rowen (“aftermath”).

Etymology 3

Noun

rowan (countable and uncountable, plural rowans)

1. (Scotland) Dated form of roving (“an elongate bundle of fiber”).

Etymology 4

Noun

rowan (countable and uncountable, plural rowans)

1. (archaic, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) Alternative form of rown (“fish-eggs”).

See also

• rowan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sorbus subg. Sorbus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Anagrams

• WARNO, Wrona

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *rōan (“to row”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈroː.wɑn/
• Rhymes: -oː.wɑn

Verb

rōwan

1. to row (with oars etc.)

Conjugation

Conjugation of rōwan (strong, class VII)

infinitive	rōwan	rōwenne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	rōwe	rēow
second person singular	rōwest	rēowe
third person singular	rōweþ	rēow
plural	rōwaþ	rēowon, rēon
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	rōwe	rēowe
plural	rōwen	rēowen
imperative
singular	rōw
plural	rōwaþ
participle	present	past
	rōwende	(ġe)rōwen

Derived terms

• rēwet
• rōþor
• rōwend

Descendants

• Middle English: rowen
  • English: row
  • Scots: row