Parrok

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small enclosed plot of grassland, often near a house, used for grazing animals in Scots and northern English dialect
2. A little fenced field beside a dwelling, traditionally kept as pasture for a few animals in parts of Scotland
3. An enclosed patch of grass, usually modest in size, serving as a paddock in certain northern British dialects

Etymology: In Scotland and northern England, a parrok is a small enclosed field, often a paddock beside a house where a cow or pony could graze. Its surprising relative is the English "park." Both descend from the same Old English word, "pearroc," meaning an enclosure. Over the centuries, the southern form took on the grander sense of a large enclosed hunting ground and then a landscaped estate, while the northern form stayed close to its original meaning of a modest fenced plot. The Old English word was probably borrowed from a Celtic language of Britain, where a related term meant an enclosure. Scots and northern dialects kept the older vowel and consonant shapes, so "parrok" preserves a form that had largely disappeared from standard English.