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loch

UK/lɒk/US/lɑk/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,375 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: lochs, loches

A loch is a lake, in Scottish use. Loch Ness, a sea loch, beside the loch.

A sea loch is an arm of the sea rather than fresh water, which is what England would call a fjord or an inlet. The ch is said at the back of the throat, and saying it as lock marks somebody out immediately.

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Definitions of loch

  1. 1nounlochA lake, in Scottish use.B2+

    “The old castle stands on a small island in the middle of a Scottish loch.”

loch is a lake.

Where it comes from

Scottish Gaelic loch means a lake; the Irish lough is the same word.

  1. Scottish Gaelic

    loch

  2. Middle English

    lough

  3. English, today

    loch

From Middle English lough, borrowed from Scottish Gaelic loch. a doublet of lay and Looe and lough.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

loch in the wild

  • A small loch is sometimes called a lochan.

    Loch

  • Lochs which connect to the sea may be called "sea lochs" or "sea loughs".

    Loch

  • The loch forms part of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, which was established in 2002.

    Loch Lomond

  • The loch has a maximum depth of about 190 metres in the deeper northern portion, although the southern part of the loch rarely exceeds 30 metres in depth.

    Loch Lomond

  • A tarn (or corrie loch) is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or "corrie") excavated by a glacier.

    Tarn (lake)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.