coracle means A small circular or oblong boat made of wickerwork and made watertight with hides or pitch, propelled and steered with a single paddle and light enough to be carried on a person's back. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
coracle is pronounced /ˈkɒɹəkəl/.
Why “coracle” is a great word
A small, round or oval boat constructed from a woven wicker framework and a covering of animal hide or tarred canvas, moved by a single paddle in a figure-eight motion. Its name travels from the Proto-Celtic *kurukos* (‘boat’), through Welsh *corwg* or *cwrwgl*, related to Irish *curach* and Scottish Gaelic *currach*, washing into English by the 1540s. Unlike a “currach” (which denotes a larger, sea-going vessel) or a “dinghy” (a generic, rigid-hulled modern tender), the coracle is a primal basket made buoyant. It is the damp smell of hide and riverweed, the delicate, giving flex of the wicker underfoot, and the silent, spinning progress across a still pool—a craft so elementary it feels less invented than discovered, a leaf-shaped proof that even the most fragile vessel can hold a world.
Etymology
Of Celtic origin; related to Welsh corwg, Irish curach (“boat”) and Cornish gorhel (“ship”), from Proto-Celtic *kurukos (“boat”).
noun
- A small circular or oblong boat made of wickerwork and made watertight with hides or pitch, propelled and steered with a single paddle and light enough to be carried on a person's back.“The White Hart, overlooking the bridge, has a bar named after the coracles that may still be seen on this part of the Teifi.”