tartan

Also used as

tartan is also the ellipsis of tartan-purry.

tartan meaning in Kannada, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay

Examples of tartan in a sentence

• In the second row of the cavalcade were Francie, Fanny's god-daughter, now thirteen years old and already elegant in long frilled pantalettes, tartan skirts, and a leghorn hat with streamers, […]1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw [pseudonym; Marjorie Barnard, Flora Eldershaw], chapter IX, in A House is Built, London; Bombay, Maharashtra...
• Grandpa, tartaned to the max, larger than life, meekly trotted back to the car to let Grandma's familiar [a cat] out.2016 September, Sally Odgers, The Peacock’s Pearl (Cat Mahal is Magic; 1), [Latrobe, Tas.]: Prints Charming Books, →ISBN, page 236:
• When they entered the kitchen, Craig, who loved plaids and was wearing a plaid shirt, was amazed to find his host tartaned out in a plaid pattern that was repeated from head to foot: […]2016 December 6, R[obert] J. R. Rockwood, “Only the Statues are Whole”, in The Primrose Path, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:
• When we were watching Massena, off Genoa, we got a matter of seventy schooners, brigs, and tartans, with wine, food, and powder.1896, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Peace of Amiens”, in Rodney Stone, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 58:

All 12 example sentences with tartan

Synonyms of tartan

• plaid
• Scotch plaid

Forms of tartan

Plural of tartan: tartans

Origin of tartan

The noun is an unadapted borrowing from Scots tartan, from Old Scots tartane, tertane, probably from Old French tertaine, tiretaine (“cloth of wool mixed with cotton or linen”), probably from tiret (“kind of precious cloth”) + -aine modelled after futaine (“woven cloth made from cotton mixed with linen or silk”). Tiret is derived from tire (“kind of silk cloth”), from Medieval Latin tyrium (“cloth dyed with Tyrian purple”), a noun use of Latin tyrium, an inflection of tyrius (“of Tyre, Tyrian”), from Latin Tyrus (“Phoenician city of Tyre (in modern Lebanon)”) (from Ancient Greek Τῠ́ρος (Tŭ́ros), from Phoenician 𐤑𐤓 (ṣr)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives). Another suggestion is that the Scots noun is from Middle English tartaryn (“rich cloth (probably silk) imported from the East, probably from China through Tartary”), from Old French (drap) tartarin (literally “cloth of Tartary”), from Medieval Latin Tartarīnus (“of Tartary or the Tatars”), from Latin Tartarus, Tatarus (“Tatar person”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that tartarin referred to a more expensive fabric. Noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2...

Borrowed from French tartane, from Italian tartana; further origin uncertain, said to be from Arabic طَرِيدَة (ṭarīda, “type of fast ship”) but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is insufficient evidence for this.

Borrowed from Hebrew תַּרְתָּן (tartān) (translated into English in versions of the Old Testament of the Bible: see the quotations), from the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian 𒌉𒋫𒉡 (tur-ta-nu).

Words formed from tartan

• tartana
• tartanization
• tartanize
• tartanry
• tartans
• Tartan Army
• tartan noir
• tartan tax
• Tartan Tory
• tartaned

Related words

• tartan-purry

Phrases with tartan

• tartan taxes
• Tartan Tories

Words that rhyme with tartan

• barton
• carton
• kindergarten
• spartan
• dishearten
• harten
• hearten

Questions about tartan

What does tartan mean?

Tartan means woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.

What is tartan in Kannada?

Tartan in Kannada is ಟಾರ್ಟನ್ (ṭārṭan). See Tartan meaning in Kannada.

How do you use tartan in a sentence?

In the second row of the cavalcade were Francie, Fanny's god-daughter, now thirteen years old and already elegant in long frilled pantalettes, tartan skirts, and a leghorn hat with streamers, […]

What part of speech is tartan?

Tartan can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.

How do you pronounce tartan?

Tartan is pronounced /ˈtɑːt(ə)n/ (UK).

What is the plural of tartan?

The plural of tartan is tartans.