Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

broch

/ˈbɹɑx/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.02 in modern English

Syllables: broch
IPA: /ˈbɹɑx/

12

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A type of Iron Age stone tower with hollow double-layered walls found on Orkney, Shetland, in the Hebrides and parts of the Scottish mainland.

Example Sentences

"Finella's carles builded the Kaimes, a long line of battlements under the hills, midway a tower that was older still, a broch from the days of the Pictish men […]."
"The last man slid the bolt in the single low narrow door. The broch was impregnable then."
"Ian's eyes rolled slowly up, as though following the rough stones of the broch upwards. 'That tower rises sixty feet from the ground,' he told me, 'and it's thirty feet in diameter, wi' three floors.'"

Etymology

From Scots broch, from Old Norse borg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz. Doublet of borough and burgh.

Origin

Source language: Old Norse

Word Breakdown

Root: broch, borg, *burgz

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈbɹɑx/
British English: /ˈbɹɒx/

Inflected Forms

brochs (plural)

Synonyms

Pictish tower

Rhymes With

koch loch och lough yogh rock stock block round rock v block lock shock

Questions

How do you pronounce broch?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈbɹɑx/.
What does broch mean?: A type of Iron Age stone tower with hollow double-layered walls found on Orkney, Shetland, in the Hebrides and parts of the Scottish mainland.
Where does broch come from?: It is traced to Old Norse.

How to pronounce broch

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “broch”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈbɹɑx/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “broch”.
Repeat and practice — Say “broch” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.