tartan

Meaning

Noun

1. A kind of woven woollen cloth with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles, associated with Scottish Highlanders, different clans and some Scottish families and institutions having their own distinctive patterns.
2. The pattern associated with such material.
3. An individual or a group wearing tartan; a Highlander or Scotsman in general.
4. Trade name of a synthetic resin, used for surfacing tracks etc.

Adj

1. Having a pattern like a tartan.
2. Scottish.

Verb

To clothe in tartan.

Synonyms

plaid

Scots

Scottish

scottish

hot-tempered person

crossbarred cloth

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtɑɹtn̩/

Etymology

Blend of Middle English tartaryn (“rich material”), from Middle French tartarin (“Tartar cloth”), and Middle French tiretaine (“cloth of mixed fibers”), from Old French tiret (“kind of cloth”), from tire (“oriental cloth of silk”), from Medieval Latin tyrius (“material from Tyre”), from Latin Tyrus (“Tyre”).