"keir" meaning in Scots

See keir in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: keirs [plural]
Etymology: Probably from a Cumbric or Pictish source equivalent to Welsh caer (“fort, ramparts”). May have entered Scots via Scottish Gaelic. Etymology templates: {{der|sco|xcb|-}} Cumbric, {{der|sco|xpi|-}} Pictish, {{cog|cy|caer||fort, ramparts}} Welsh caer (“fort, ramparts”), {{der|sco|gd|-}} Scottish Gaelic Head templates: {{head|sco|noun|||plural|keirs|||||cat2=|cat3=|checkredlinks=1|head=}} keir (plural keirs), {{sco-noun}} keir (plural keirs)
  1. (rare, now only in place-names) ancient fortification Tags: rare
    Sense id: en-keir-sco-noun-QVShyyuh Categories (other): Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries, Scots entries with incorrect language header
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "xcb",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Cumbric",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "xpi",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Pictish",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cy",
        "2": "caer",
        "3": "",
        "4": "fort, ramparts"
      },
      "expansion": "Welsh caer (“fort, ramparts”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "gd",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from a Cumbric or Pictish source equivalent to Welsh caer (“fort, ramparts”). May have entered Scots via Scottish Gaelic.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keirs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "10": "",
        "2": "noun",
        "3": "",
        "4": "",
        "5": "plural",
        "6": "keirs",
        "7": "",
        "8": "",
        "9": "",
        "cat2": "",
        "cat3": "",
        "checkredlinks": "1",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "keir (plural keirs)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "keir (plural keirs)",
      "name": "sco-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Scots",
  "lang_code": "sco",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Scots entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1795, Sir John Sinclair, 21 Vols. 1791–9. Statistical Account of Scotland. 21 Vols. 1791–9:",
          "text": "There are several small heights in this parish, to which the name Keir is applied, which bear the marks of some ancient military work . . . The circumference of the rampart on the Keir-hill of Dasher . . . does not exceed 130 yards.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "ancient fortification"
      ],
      "id": "en-keir-sco-noun-QVShyyuh",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare, now only in place-names) ancient fortification"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in place-names"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "keir"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "xcb",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Cumbric",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "xpi",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Pictish",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cy",
        "2": "caer",
        "3": "",
        "4": "fort, ramparts"
      },
      "expansion": "Welsh caer (“fort, ramparts”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "gd",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from a Cumbric or Pictish source equivalent to Welsh caer (“fort, ramparts”). May have entered Scots via Scottish Gaelic.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keirs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "10": "",
        "2": "noun",
        "3": "",
        "4": "",
        "5": "plural",
        "6": "keirs",
        "7": "",
        "8": "",
        "9": "",
        "cat2": "",
        "cat3": "",
        "checkredlinks": "1",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "keir (plural keirs)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "keir (plural keirs)",
      "name": "sco-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Scots",
  "lang_code": "sco",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 2 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Scots entries with incorrect language header",
        "Scots lemmas",
        "Scots nouns",
        "Scots terms derived from Cumbric",
        "Scots terms derived from Pictish",
        "Scots terms derived from Scottish Gaelic",
        "Scots terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1795, Sir John Sinclair, 21 Vols. 1791–9. Statistical Account of Scotland. 21 Vols. 1791–9:",
          "text": "There are several small heights in this parish, to which the name Keir is applied, which bear the marks of some ancient military work . . . The circumference of the rampart on the Keir-hill of Dasher . . . does not exceed 130 yards.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "ancient fortification"
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare, now only in place-names) ancient fortification"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in place-names"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "keir"
}

Download raw JSONL data for keir meaning in Scots (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Scots dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.