Word.ws English Dictionary

skene-dhu

skene-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 skene-dhu

pluralskene-dhus

Questions about skene-dhu

What is skene-dhu the alternative spelling of?
Skene-dhu is the alternative spelling of sgian dubh.

Words near skene-dhu in the dictionary

  1. skene dhu
  2. skene dhus
  3. Skene glands
  4. Skene's gland
  5. Skene's glands
  6. skene-dhu
  7. skene-dhus
  8. skeneid
  9. skeneids
  10. skeneopsid
  11. skeneopsids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: skene-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: “skene-dhu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skene-dhu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.