Word.ws English Dictionary

skean-dhu

skean-dhu is the alternative spelling of sgian dubh.

Meaning of sgian dubh

Noun

sgian dubh (plural sgian dubhs or sgians dubh or (rare) sgianan dubha)

  1. (Scotland) A small, single-edged knife worn tucked into the hose (stocking) as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress along with the kilt.
    • [Y]oung Durward sprung lightly as the ounce up into the tree, drew from his pouch that most necessary implement of a Highlander or woodsman, the trusty skene dhu, and, calling to those below to receive the body on their hands, cut the rope asunder in less than a minute after he had perceived the...1823, [Walter Scott], “The Bohemians”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 129

Forms of skean-dhu

pluralskean-dhus

Questions about skean-dhu

What is skean-dhu the alternative spelling of?
Skean-dhu is the alternative spelling of sgian dubh.

Words near skean-dhu in the dictionary

  1. SKD
  2. SKDs
  3. skean
  4. skean dhu
  5. skean dhus
  6. skean-dhu
  7. skean-dhus
  8. skeane
  9. skeans
  10. skear
  11. skeared

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: skean-dhu (page history and authors); sgian dubh (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.

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