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tartan

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

tahrtuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɑɹtən

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. uncountable

    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.

  2. countable

    A pattern used on such fabric.

  3. figurativecountable

    An individual who wears tartan (etymology 1, sense 1.2); specifically, a Scottish Highlander, or a Scottish person (chiefly a Scotsman) in general.

  4. uncountablechiefly attributive

    Originally a trade name in the form Tartan: a synthetic resin used for surfacing ramps, running tracks, etc.

  5. uncountable

    Clothing made from this fabric.

  6. figurativecountableUK

    A young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland.

adjective

  1. Made of tartan (noun etymology 1, sense 1), or having a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles like a that of a tartan.

verb

  1. To clothe (someone) in tartan (noun etymology 1, sense 1.2).

  2. To apply a tartan pattern to (something).

  3. figurative

    To make (something) Scottish, or more Scottish; to tartanize.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Woven / pattern

clan tartan

Cloth

tartan plaid

Other combinations

tartan armytartan skirttartan rugred tartangreen tartanlucy tartan

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders

plaid

adjective

Sense: made of tartan (noun etymology 1 or sense 1)

plaid

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.