machair

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic machair.

Noun

machair (countable and uncountable, plural machairs)

  1. (geology) A type of calcareous sandy terrain formed mostly from seashells, found by the coast in areas of Scotland and Ireland.
    • 2023 February 24, “Bones under Highlands kitchen floor are Iron Age burial site”, in BBC News‎[2]:
      Burials had been found north and south of Applecross, preserved in the soils of sandy coastal meadows known as machair.

Anagrams

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish machaire, from Proto-Celtic *makarjo (“a field”), *makajā (“plain, flat area”), which are related to *magos (“plain, battlefield”).[1]

Noun

machair m or f (genitive singular macharach or machrach, plural machraichean)

  1. (geography) extensive low-lying fertile plain, level country
  2. (geography) the southern or low-lying parts of Scotland
  3. (geography) extensive beach
  4. (geography) low and level part of a farm
  5. (geography, in the plural) long ranges of sandy plains fringing the Atlantic side of the Outer Hebrides

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “machair”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎[1], Stirling, →ISBN
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