carr

See also: Carr

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑɹ/
• Homophones: car, Carr, Karr
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English kerr and Middle English carr meaning meadow, field or grassland of a low lying variety, itself from Old English carr; possibly related to Old Norse kjarr. Compare Swedish kärr, Icelandic kjarr.

Noun

carr (plural carrs)

1. Any marsh; marshy ground, swampland.
   • 2007, Kevin Leahy, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey, Tempus, published 2008, page 16:

     The marsh lands or ‘carrs’ that covered the low-lying floor of the vale could not be cultivated and the poorly drained flanks of the vale would be best used as pasture.

   • 2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 155:

     The old tales told of these noble animals sighted padding across clodded fields or circling shrinking copses. Stalking the choking carrs.

2. In particular, a marsh or fen formed when the litter of decaying reeds (e.g. in a lake) raises the ground level above the water, allowing more vegetation like sedges and then low bushes or trees to grow; a marshy woodland. (Compare marsh, swamp, bog, fen.)

Derived terms

• alder carr
• Batley Carr
• carrland

Etymology 2

Noun

carr (plural carrs)

1. Archaic form of car (“wheeled vehicle”).

Etymology 3

From Old Northumbrian; possibly adopted from a Cumbric *carreg, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂er- (“hard”).

Noun

carr (plural carrs)

1. (Northumberland Dialect) rock

Anagrams

• ACRR