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• tarn
  tarn

  noun

  a small mountain lake or pool, especially one in a cirque.
• Tarn
  Tarn

  noun

  a department in S France. 2,232 sq. mi. (5,780 sq. km). Albi.

tarn

¹ American  

[tahrn] / tɑrn /

noun

1. a small mountain lake or pool, especially one in a cirque.

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Tarn ² American  

[tarn] / tarn /

noun

1. a department in S France. 2,232 sq. mi. (5,780 sq. km). Albi.

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tarn ¹ British  

/ tɑːn /

noun

1. a small mountain lake or pool

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Tarn ² British  

/ tarn /

noun

1. a department of S France, in Midi-Pyrénées region. Capital: Albi. Pop: 350 477 (2003 est). Area: 5780 sq km (2254 sq miles)

2. a river in SW France, rising in the Massif Central and flowing generally west to the Garonne River. Length: 375 km (233 miles)

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tarn Scientific  

/ tärn /

1. A small mountain lake, especially one formed as a glacier melts, filling a cirque with water.

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Etymology

Origin of tarn

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English terne, tarne, from Old Norse tjǫrn “pond, pool.” Tarn was originally restricted to northern English dialects (where the Danes settled) or in written works about northern England. Tarn entered mainstream English in the works of the Lake Poets ( def. )

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Explanation

A mountain pool that forms in a hollow scooped out by a glacier is called a tarn. Officially, tarns are smaller than lakes. Another name for a tarn is a corrie loch, from the Scottish Gaelic coire, or "pot," and loch, "lake." These glacier-formed pools are found all over the world, from New York's Adirondack Mountains to the Tatras Mountains in Slovakia. The word tarn comes from the Old Norse tjörn, "small mountain lake with no tributaries."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tarn Tarn

She said the animal is likely to have been kept at a pet, ending up in the tarn when owners struggled to keep up with its care demands or decided they did not want it.

From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2024

After the glacier is gone, the bowl at the bottom of the cirque is often occupied by a lake called a tarn.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

I learned that a tarn is a pond, a gill is a stream, and duckboards are slats across boggy ground.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2015

When we came upon a tarn, or alpine lake, we stopped in our tracks, entranced by an oval frame of water reflecting dark forest, blue skies and the snow-covered ridges of mountain peaks.

From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2011

With the gray suit, she wore a cherry-colored tarn pulled over one eye and vici-kid high buttoned shoes with spool heels.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Orla Tarn, NUS Wales president, said she was concerned that the new rules could marginalise those who are already the least likely to vote.

From BBC ● May 9, 2023

Tarn and Zach also discuss the intricate details of the game and the gigantic number of narrative possibilities that players can experience.

From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2023

"We must continue with the reforms," said Macron on Thursday, during a visit to the southern French region of Tarn.

From Reuters ● Jun. 9, 2022

There, for several months, her father was part of a Jewish resistance movement, helping to ferry men and messages to units in the Tarn region.

From New York Times ● May 23, 2022

We reached the Tarn Rock, half a league from here, at nightfall, and reconnoitered Carleton’s camp.

From Cedric, the Forester by Bernard Gay Marshall

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Related Words

• basin
• cistern
• container
• lake
• pond
• pool
• reserve
• source
• stockpile
• storage
• supply
• tank

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