Word.ws English Dictionary

claybeg

claybeg noun: the Scottish broadsword used during the Early Modern period.

Noun

claybeg (plural claybegs)

  1. (historical) The Scottish broadsword used during the Early Modern period.
    • When Sir Walter Scott speaks, prior to 1715, of the inferiority of the claymore to the rapier, he refers not to the claybeg or Andrew Ferrara, now worn by the officers and sergeants of the Highland corps, and which has usurped the venerable name of the ancient Scottish weapon.1835, letter to the editor of The United Service Magazine, page 109

Forms of claybeg

pluralclaybegs

Origin of claybeg

From Scottish Gaelic claidheamh beag (literally “small sword”). First attested in 1825 as Clay-beg.

Questions about claybeg

What does claybeg mean?
Claybeg means the Scottish broadsword used during the Early Modern period.
What part of speech is claybeg?
Claybeg is a noun.
What is the plural of claybeg?
The plural of claybeg is claybegs.

Words near claybeg in the dictionary

  1. claybanks
  2. Claybaugh
  3. Claybaughs
  4. claybed
  5. claybeds
  6. claybeg
  7. claybegs
  8. Clayborn
  9. Clayborne
  10. Claybornes
  11. Clayborns

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: claybeg (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:

Cite this entry: “claybeg.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/claybeg. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.