ghillie

American  

[gil-ee] / ˈgɪl i /

Or gillie

noun

1. a low-cut, tongueless shoe with loops instead of eyelets for the laces, which cross the instep and are sometimes tied around the ankle.

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ghillie British  

/ ˈɡɪlɪ /

noun

1. a type of tongueless shoe with lacing up the instep, originally worn by the Scots

2. a variant spelling of gillie

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Etymology

Origin of ghillie

1590–1600; gillie; apparently a type of shoe originally worn by Scottish hunting guides

Example Sentences

The medallion of venison on my plate came from a deer shot by one of the restaurant’s waiters who spends summers as a ghillie, a hunting and fishing guide.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

His filthy clothes were torn into vertical strips, like one of the ghillie suits hunters and military snipers use for camouflage.

From Salon • Aug. 5, 2025

Mannequins in ghillie suits stand guard in the shadows.

From New York Times • Nov. 10, 2022

The ghillie suit still had a shipping label affixed, addressed to St. Michael’s Rosedale house.

From Washington Post • Oct. 6, 2022

The Sir James Colquhoun who—with four of his keepers and a ghillie boy—was drowned in Loch Lomond, nearly seventeen years ago, was a widower with an only son, the present baronet.

From Notable Women Authors of the Day Biographical Sketches by Black, Helen C.