noun
corrie
KO-ree
noun
1
A steep, bowl-shaped hollow carved into a mountainside by a glacier.
"Snow lingered in the corrie long after the rest of the hillside had thawed."
"Hikers often shelter from the wind in a corrie below the summit ridge."
How to Use Corrie
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA rounded, armchair-shaped dip cut into a mountain by ancient ice.
Memory tip
Common in Scottish and other mountain place names; geographers also call the same feature a "cirque".
Trace the full origin ↓
Easily confused with
Common pairings
glacial corrie
corrie lake
Word Forms
corries plural, Corries plural
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Snow lingered in the _____ long after the rest of the hillside had thawed.
Etymology
From Scottish Gaelic coire, literally "cauldron" or "kettle" — the hollow was thought to look like a giant cooking pot scooped out of the rock.