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
pluralskenes dhu
alternative formskene-dhu

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. Skelwith Bridge
  2. sken
  3. Skenandore
  4. Skenandores
  5. skene
  6. skene dhu
  7. skene dhus
  8. Skene glands
  9. Skene's gland
  10. Skene's glands
  11. skene-dhu

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.