cairn
UK/kɛən//kɛ(ə)ɹn/
cairn noun: a rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
Noun
cairn (plural cairns)
- 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: / Why speak ye no word!"—said Glenara the stern.1826, Thomas Campbell, “Glenara”, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, page 105
- Synonyms:
- See burial mound § Synonyms
- 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.
- After fifteen minutes of this we were glad to reach a high saddle on which former travellers had piled little cairns of commemoration and thankfulness.1926, T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 180
- A cairn terrier.
cairn meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Malay
cairn in Tamil
- நில அடையாளக் கற்குவை, கற்குவியல், கற்குவியல் வடிவான கல்லறை நினைவுசின்னம், கல்லறை, சவக்குழி, நிலக்குறிப்படையாளச் சின்னம்
cairn in Bengali
- স্মৃতিস্তম্ভ, সীমানাসূচক প্রস্তর স্তূপ
cairn in Malay
- monument
- batu tanda
Synonyms of cairn
- See burial mound § Synonyms
Forms of cairn
| plural | cairns |
|---|
Origin of cairn
From Scots cairn, from Scottish Gaelic càrn, from Old Irish carn, from Proto-Celtic *karnos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“horn”). Compare Welsh carn, Cornish carn. Doublet of carn and horn.
Words formed from cairn
Phrases with cairn
Words that rhyme with cairn
Questions about cairn
- What does cairn mean?
- Cairn means a rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
- What is cairn in Tamil?
- Cairn in Tamil is நில அடையாளக் கற்குவை, கற்குவியல், கற்குவியல் வடிவான கல்லறை நினைவுசின்னம். See Cairn meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is cairn?
- Cairn is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cairn?
- Cairn is pronounced /kɛən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cairn?
- The plural of cairn is cairns.
Words near cairn in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cairn (page history and authors); cairn (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cairn (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cairn.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cairn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cairn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.