Meanings
plural fraughans · alternative fraochan · alternative fraghan · alternative frawn
- IrelandThe bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).
Unlike the Wicklow Gold Mines at Mount Croughan, / Where thrives that Lilliputian Tree, the Fraughan.
1824, Rory O'Reilly, Retrospection, Dublin: J. Carrick & Son, page 22 more examples
His bare feet, as they trod the heather and fraughan beneath them , sent a thrill of primitive ecstacy to his expectant mind.
1906, W. M. Letts, “Paudeen in the Woods”, in Temple Bar, volume 1, London: Macmillan & Co., page 553Over the centuries and over the seasons, fruit gathering became woven into the fabric of Irish rural life and the fraughan, being the first of the wild berries to ripen, was the occasion for an outing.
2018 May 3, Margaret Hickey, Ireland’s Green Larder: The Definitive History of Irish Food, Unbound, →ISBN, page 38
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Irishfraochán“blueberry, bilberry”
- Englishfraughan
Borrowed from Irish fraochán (“blueberry, bilberry”).
More words from Irish
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
fraughan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fraughan
“fraughan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fraughan. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fraughan,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fraughan.
Source: fraughan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.