Learn · Reference
Hill words: a glossary
Most hill names are plain descriptions in Gaelic, Welsh or Old Norse. Learn a few dozen words and the map starts to tell you what you'll find: Beinn Dearg is the red mountain, Llyn Du the black lake.
108 words
Gaelic: the shape of the land
- beinn (ben)
- mountain
- sgùrr, sgòrr
- rocky peak
- stob
- pointed peak
- meall
- rounded hill
- càrn (cairn)
- stony hill, or a pile of stones
- creag
- crag, cliff
- druim (drum)
- ridge
- aonach
- steep-sided ridge
- bidean
- pinnacle
- mullach
- summit, top
- cnoc (knock)
- small hill
- tom
- hillock
- monadh (mounth)
- moor, upland
- bealach
- pass
- coire (corrie)
- hollow scooped from a hillside
- gleann (glen)
- narrow valley
- srath (strath)
- broad valley
- làirig
- pass through the hills
Gaelic: water, woods and places
- allt
- stream, burn
- abhainn
- river
- eas
- waterfall
- loch
- lake or sea inlet
- lochan
- small loch
- inbhir (inver)
- river mouth
- coille
- wood
- doire
- grove
- eilean
- island
- àirigh
- summer pasture, shieling
- baile (bal)
- farm, village
- ceann (kin)
- head, end
- achadh (ach)
- field
Gaelic: describing words
- mòr (more)
- big
- beag (beg)
- small
- àrd
- high
- fada
- long
- garbh
- rough
- dearg
- red
- ruadh
- red-brown
- dubh
- black, dark
- bàn
- white, pale
- geal
- white, bright
- buidhe
- yellow
- gorm
- blue, or green of grass
- glas
- grey-green
- liath
- grey
- odhar
- dun, drab
- uaine
- green
Welsh
- mynydd
- mountain
- moel, foel
- bare, rounded hill
- carnedd
- cairn, stony summit
- pen
- head, top
- bryn
- hill
- craig
- crag
- crib
- sharp ridge
- bwlch
- pass
- cwm
- valley, or a hollow scooped from a hillside
- dyffryn
- broad valley
- llyn
- lake
- afon
- river
- nant
- stream, or its valley
- rhaeadr, pistyll
- waterfall
- aber
- river mouth
- coed
- wood
- ynys
- island
- hafod
- summer farm
- mawr, fawr
- big
- bach, fach
- small
- du, ddu
- black
- gwyn, wen
- white
- coch, goch
- red
- glas, las
- blue-green
- uchaf
- upper
- isaf
- lower
Lakeland and the north of England
- fell
- hill or mountain
- pike
- pointed summit
- dodd
- rounded lower summit
- knott
- rocky hill
- how, howe
- small hill
- rigg
- ridge
- scar
- cliff, rock face
- hause
- pass
- tarn
- small mountain lake
- beck
- stream
- gill, ghyll
- ravine, or the stream in it
- force
- waterfall
- mere, water
- lake
- dale
- valley
- thwaite
- clearing
- edge
- narrow ridge, or a line of crags
Walkers' words
- arête
- a narrow ridge with a drop on both sides
- bagging
- climbing the hills on a list to tick them off
- bearing
- a direction in degrees, set on a compass
- bothy
- a simple, unlocked shelter in a remote place
- cairn
- a pile of stones marking a summit or a route
- col
- the low point between two summits (bealach, bwlch or hause)
- contour
- a line on a map joining points of equal height; to contour is to cross a slope without gaining or losing height
- cornice
- an overhanging lip of snow at the edge of a ridge or plateau
- drop
- how far a hill stands above the ground joining it to anything higher (also prominence)
- escape route
- a quicker, safer way off the hill if you need to cut the day short
- handrail
- a wall, stream or ridge you can follow to stay on course
- peat hag
- a bank of eroded peat, with soft bog between
- scrambling
- ground steep enough to need hands, between walking and rock climbing
- scree
- a slope of loose stones
- spate
- a river in flood after rain
- stalking
- managed deer shooting on Scottish estates, mainly mid-August to October
- trig point
- a concrete survey pillar, often on a summit
- white-out
- cloud on snow, with no horizon and nothing to judge distance by
- wind chill
- how much colder the wind makes it feel
Map spellings vary, and words change form after "the" and in the plural (beinn becomes bheinn, moel becomes foel). Anglicised forms are in brackets. Summit cards on walk pages give the meaning and pronunciation of individual hill names where we have them.