croft

croft — noun

1. A croft is a small piece of farmland with a simple house that a family works the

1.nounC1
Definition

A croft is a small piece of farmland with a simple house that a family works themselves, found mainly in the Scottish countryside where the land is poor and the holdings are small.

Example

The Morrison family kept sheep on their stone croft near Loch Ness.

noun phrase: stone croft / family croft

After retiring from the city, Indra bought an old croft with a vegetable garden.

Common collocations
  • work a croft
  • rent a croft
  • live on a croft
  • croft cottage
  • croft land
  • crofting community
Synonyms
  • smallholding

    the closest general English term, used across the UK without the Scottish-specific association

  • farmstead

    refers more narrowly to the farm buildings rather than the land itself

  • holding

    a more formal term; broader in meaning and less specific to size

Usage Note

Almost exclusively used in the context of Scotland, especially the Highlands and Islands. Outside Scotland, the word is rare and may require explanation for most readers.

Common Mistakes

My uncle owns a croft in Wales.
My uncle owns a small farm in Wales.
In British English, croft specifically refers to Scottish smallholdings and is not used for similar farms in other regions.

Word family

  • crofter
    nounC1
  • crofting
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe a piece of land used for farming, but they differ in region, size, and cultural association. Croft is tightly tied to Scotland (especially the Highlands and Islands) and traditionally implies a rented plot too small to support a family without additional work such as fishing or weaving. Smallholding is the standard modern British term for a small farm worked by one family, without any regional restriction. Farmstead focuses on the buildings — the house, barn, and other structures — rather than the land. Homestead is more common in North American and Australian English, suggesting a self-sufficient family property with a house and outbuildings. For example, a Scottish family might say 'our croft has been in the family for three generations,' while an English farmer would say 'we run a smallholding in Devon,' and an American might refer to 'the old family homestead in Oregon.'

croft ↗smallholdingfarmsteadhomestead

Common collocations

Nouns

  • croft house
  • croft cottage
  • croft land
  • croft kitchen

Phrases

  • crofting way of life
  • crofting community
  • crofting township

Prepositions

  • on a croft
  • at the croft

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Croft comes from Old English croft, meaning a small enclosed field or piece of land next to a house. The word is shared with other Germanic languages — compare Middle Dutch krocht (enclosed piece of land) and Old Norse kropt (a small building or enclosure). Its modern use became strongly tied to Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries, when the crofting system of small-scale tenancy farming became the dominant land-use pattern in the Highlands and Islands.