: the fruit of a European or American mountain ash
Illustration of rowan
leaves and fruit
Examples of rowan in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebIn southeast London’s Brockley Hill Park, opera singer Tristan Hambleton has been using a watering can to sustain a rowan sapling amid a parched meadow.—Luke Vargas, WSJ, 29 Aug. 2022 As the island’s ice cap melts, the land is becoming more habitable for trees, of which there are four native species, most significantly the rowan or mountain ash.—Nancy Lord, Anchorage Daily News, 15 May 2022 The stone structure had fallen into disrepair over the centuries, so the team removed an invading rowan tree and cleaned up its collapsed walls.—Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Apr. 2020 Tiny gardens: rowan tree, cherry tree, silver birch, ornamental willow—a horrible pompom on a stick.—Anne Enright, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2020 But what set the houses off, made them seem jewel-like, were the huge oaks and small sassafras and maples, the chestnuts, rowans.—Jane Smiley, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rowan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect raun rowan; akin to Old English rēad red — more at red
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