shetland

S1H4E1T1L1A1N1D2
/ˈʃɛtlənd/

noun

Lightweight, loosely twisted wool fabric.

Similar
Shetland ponyShetland sheepdogShetland sheep dog
OriginScots Shetland ← Middle Scots Ȝetland ← Old Norse Hjaltland →
Less commonScrabble 12
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Meanings

shetland1

nounshetland (countable and uncountable, plural shetlands)

plural shetlands · alternative Shetland

  1. countableuncountableLightweight, loosely twisted wool fabric.

Shetland2

proper noun

alternative Zetland

  1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of the Shetland Islands: an archipelago and council area of Scotland.

    Campaigners launched legal challenges after Jackdaw was approved in 2022 and when the Rosebank oil field off Shetland was given the green light in 2023.

    2026 September 4, Simon Jack, “Controversial Jackdaw gas field set to be approved in weeks, sources say”, in BBC News, retrieved 04 Sep 2026
  2. A historical county of Scotland.
nounShetland (countable and uncountable, plural Shetlands)

plural Shetlands · alternative Zetland

  1. uncountableA particular breed of pony.

    Synonyms: Shetland pony, Shetland pony

  2. countableA pony of this breed.
  3. uncountableA particular breed of sheep.
  4. countableA sheep of this breed.
  5. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of shetland: light, loose wool fabric.

    […] I'll tell you what else is a fact. It's a fact that he is wearing his blue Shetland turtle-neck today. Even as we speak his body is moving inside it. Warm and quick. It's more than flesh and blood can stand.

    1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 17

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA particular breed of pony.

Similar
Shetland ponyShetland pony

More synonyms by meaning

nouna small sheepdog resembling a collie that was developed in the Shetland Islands

Similar
Shetland sheepdogShetland sheep dog
Broader
shepherd dogsheepdogsheep dog
Also see
shetland sheepdog

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

shetland · noun

From Shetland sheep.

Full word history & related roots →

Shetland · proper noun, noun

  1. Old NorseHjaltland
  2. Middle ScotsȜetland
  3. ScotsShetland
  4. EnglishShetland

From Scots Shetland, Middle Scots Ȝetland, from Old Norse Hjaltland, by surface analysis, hjalt (“hilt”) + land (“land”). Andrew Jennings suggests the name derives from the tribal name Calēdonēs (as in Caledonia), considering the geographer Ptolemy already called the sea north of Scotland ὠκεανός Δουηκαλεδονίος (ōkeanós Douēkaledoníos); if this is correct, the borrowing into Germanic would need to have occurred at such an early date that it took part in the Germanic sound-shift, changing *kalid- to *halit-, after which it underwent folk etymological reshaping to Old Norse hjalt (“hilt”).

More words from Scots, Middle Scots, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

shetland. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shetland

MLA

“shetland.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shetland. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shetland,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shetland.

Source: shetland on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.