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tartan

tartan

8 4.4
A wool cloth with colored squares and crossing lines used by Scottish families
  • noun
  • /ˈtɑrtən/
translation icon : tartán
  • Insects stung him, and in his Black Watch tartan, the heat made his skin itch.
  • Scottish tartan
  • tartan patterns

These are red and green and Navy tartan.

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Examples

  • Carefully, Faudron pulls out a beautiful tartan scarf and replaces Wallace's tattered old one.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Blond hair thick as velvet, pulled back in a tartan headband.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • And the bird stops him and says, "I want that one behind you, the tartan one."

  • And it's my Scottish Diana tartan skirt, if I can feel it.

  • I do look good in a tartan plaid, right?

  • It's a black leatherette travel bag with a tartan design.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • And it's just this tartan pleated skirt.

  • I really like the tartan look and there's like a mustard like line going through it which matches the rest of his room as well.

  • It's, ah, made of the buchan tartan, Which is my clan's colors.

  • The older of her two Chihuahuas, he wore a tartan sweater vest against the cold.

Synonyms

plaid
vstartan
68 2.9

A cloth pattern of crossed colored bands used on clothes and blankets

is a wool fabric pattern tied to Scottish clans and tradition

Compounds

tartan tax
  • Literature
9.8

An extra tax thought to affect people in Scotland

How Patterned

tartan
8 4.4
madras
4 7.4
muslin
  • Specialized
9 3.8

Surface Forms

tartan singular
tartans plural

Etymology

Tartan comes from Scotland and may come from the Gaelic word breacan, which means 'speckled' or 'many-coloured'. A helpful way to remember it is to picture a checked, coloured cloth used for kilts and to show a family's pattern, which is exactly what 'tartan' means today.