Meanings
nouncateran (plural caterans)
plural caterans
- historicalA Highlander working as a professional fighter; a mercenary attached to a Scottish clan.
They found the hire of lawyers more cost-effective than the maintenance of caterans.
2009, John Sadler, Glencoe, Amberley, published 2009, page 411 more example
And the great-grandson of Cospatric, he joined the English against the cateran Wallace […].
1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song - A freebooter, marauder.
Origin
- Scottish Gaelicceatharn“troop”
- Englishcateran
From Scottish Gaelic ceatharn (“troop”), ceathairne (“peasantry, yeomanry”).
More words from Scottish Gaelic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Scottish Gaelic ceatharnach, ceatharnach
- ceatharnachHighlander
- ceatharnachfreebooter
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
cateran. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cateran
MLA
“cateran.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cateran. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cateran,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cateran.
Source: cateran on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.