cairn

Word family

cairn /keən $ kern/ noun [countableC]

GROUP OF THINGSa pile of stones that marks a particular place, especially at the top of a mountain 〔尤指在山顶作为标记的〕石堆，石标

Examples from the Corpus

cairn• Cigarette ends growing into a mound similar to a cairn over a dead hero.• The conical cairn is built with terraces.• Ahead, a low cairn of granite boulders rose clear of the moor.• They comprise pits dug deep into the ground, lined with logs, and covered with a low cairn of stones.• This time, we succeeded and indeed met no difficulties apart from one awkward step across a gap just before the cairn.• Spaced evenly from the bottom up, concentric rings of black crow feathers rise to the top of the cairn.• Some one constructed a stone walkway leading to the cairn, as though it were an altar.• These passage-graves were covered with cairns of stone, frequently mixed with shells in coastal districts.

Origin cairn

(1500-1600) Scottish Gaelic carn

Chinese

Corpus

BNC: 16517 COCA: 25440

cairn