What is "makar"

n. A poet writing in Scots.

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St Andrew's Cathedral, St Andrews, now in ruins: one of Scotland's key buildings in the classic period of the Makars and a possible presence in some of Dunbar's spiritual works

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A makar is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a royal court poet.

In literary history, the term The Makars is specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth century Scotland, in particular Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, who wrote a diverse genre of works in Middle Scots in the period of the Northern Renaissance. The Makars have often been referred to by literary critics as Scots Chaucerians. In the more general application of the term which is current today the word can be applied to poets of the Scots revival in the 18th century, such as Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson.

Since 2002, the term "makar" has been revived as the name for a publicly-funded poet, first in Edinburgh, followed by Glasgow, Stirling and Dundee, and in 2004 the position of The Scots Makar, in the sense of a Scottish poet laureate, was introduced by the Scottish Parliament.

Makar may refer to:

• Makar, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran
• Makar, Nepal, a village in Nepal
• Makar Island in the Laptev Sea
• Makars' Court in central Edinburgh, Scotland

• Makar, a term from Scottish literature for a poet
• A character in the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

• Makar (given name), a Slavic male given name
• Makar (surname)

• Makar-class survey catamaran
• INS Makar (J31), the lead ship of Makar-class catamarans

Makar is the surname of the following people

• Dzmitry Makar (born 1981), Belarusian football player
• Jimmy Makar (born 1956), American car racing official
• Morena Makar (born 1985), Croatian snowboarder
• Nancy Hogshead-Makar (born 1962), American swimmer
• Scott Makar, American lawyer, college professor and judge