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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

The village, the clachan, the city, he avoids: he flies from them as something intolerably hostile to his hopes.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 21 by Leighton, Alexander

It was always thought, though, that Innkeeper McCaskill, of our clachan, knew more about this family than he cared to tell.

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