bullaun means A natural depression in a stone, often filled with water and sometimes pebbles. It carries an Arena rating of 1408, earned across 51 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, bullaun ranks #131 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,601 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,602 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,729 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
bullaun is pronounced /ˈbʊlɔːn/.
Why “bullaun” is a great word
BULLAUN — [Noun] A natural or artificial depression in a stone, often found at archaeological sites and typically filled with water or pebbles. From Irish bullán, meaning “bowl” or “hollow,” itself cognate with English “bowl” and French “bol.” Unlike a “font,” a consecrated basin for liturgical use, or a “mortar,” a tool defined by the act of grinding, a bullaun is a vessel of simple receptivity. It is a rain-filled cup on a windswept headland, a dark mirror of sky in a monastic ruin, a palm smoothed by centuries of casual touch—a hollow that holds not a substance, but the quiet persistence of meaning in an indifferent surface.
Etymology
From Irish bullán.
noun
- A natural depression in a stone, often filled with water and sometimes pebbles.e.g.“And Castledawson we'll enlist
And Upperlands, each planted bawn-
Like bleaching-greens resumed by grass-” — 1972, Seamus Heaney, "A New Song", Wintering Out, Faber and Faber (1972)
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.