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clachan

American  
[klah-khuhn, kla-] / ˈklɑ xən, ˈklæ- /

noun

Scot., Irish.
  1. a small village or hamlet.


clachan British  
/ ˈklaxən, ˈklæ- /

noun

  1. dialect a small village; hamlet

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of clachan

1375–1425; late Middle English ( Scots ) < Scots Gaelic, equivalent to clach stone + -an diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As well as a clan banquet, the event included a visit to Hanna's Close, a clachan of traditional houses, which has been in place in Aughnahoory just outside Kilkeel since the 1640s.

From BBC • Jun. 4, 2023

This page has since been fixed with proper Scots and now states that a veelage is “muckler nor a clachan but no as muckle nor a toun.”

From Slate • Sep. 9, 2020

Most picturesque exhibit is a full-scale Highland clachan squat in the middle of the fair's modernistic, pastel-shaded buildings.

From Time Magazine Archive

Not till they came in sight of the clachan of Fasagrianach, did the witches relinquish the chase.

From Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Holmes, Daniel Turner

I lived then down by the kirk in the clachan, and there I was born, and the wee village was quieter far in those days than it is even now.

From Kenneth McAlpine A Tale of Mountain, Moorland and Sea by Stables, Gordon