Irish
cailleach
Noun
cailleach f (genitive singular caillí, nominative plural cailleacha)
- (historical) nun
- old woman, hag; midwife
- witch
- precocious girl
- (of man):
- (contemptuously) spineless fellow, coward
- (facetiously, in direct address) lad!
- spent, shrivelled, thing
- stump; obstructing object
- (of straw, wrack) truss, bundle
- stone weight (on rope, net)
- recess for bed; alcove; (familiar) snuggery
Declension
Synonyms
- (nun): cailleach dhubh, cailleach Mhuire
- (spineless fellow, coward): cailleach fir
- (recess for bed; alcove; snuggery): cailleach shúgáin
Derived terms
Terms derived from cailleach
- cailleach an ghiodail f (“pert hussy”)
- cailleachas m (“haggishness”)
- cailleach bhasctha f (“protruding object in ground”)
- cailleach bheag f (“bee orchid”)
- cailleach bhreac f (“larger spotted dog-fish”)
- cailleach bhréagach f (“spotted orchid”)
- cailleach chrainn f (“wood-louse”)
- cailleach dharach f (“oak stump”)
- cailleach dhearg f (“corn-poppy”)
- cailleach dhubh f (“nun; cormorant”)
- cailleach feasa f (“wise woman, fortune-teller”)
- cailleach fhuar f (“early purple orchid”)
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- cailleach ghiúise f (“pine stump”)
- cailleach ghoile f (“tapeworm”)
- cailleach Mhuire f (“nun”)
- cailleach na clúide f (“old woman in the chimney-corner”)
- cailleach na gcearc f (“hag, witch”)
- cailleach na luatha f (“cricket”)
- cailleach na luatha f, cailleach na luatha buí f (“sit-by-the-fire; cinderella”)
- cailleach na mbréag f (“lying hussy”)
- cailleach oíche f (“owl”)
- cailleach phiseogach f (“sorceress, charm-worker”)
- cailleach phráta f (“shrivelled potato; old seed-potato”)
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- cailleach rua f (“loach”)
- cailleachúil (“haggish; womanish”, adj)
- codladh na Caillí Béarra m (“protracted sleep”)
- comhrá cailleach m (“old wives’ tales”)
- fia-chailleach f (“hag, witch; unruly woman”)
- leigheas caillí, leigheas na caillí m (“old woman's remedy”)
- peata caillí m (“pampered child, no-good person”, literally “an old woman’s pet”)
- ruacán caillí m (“crone”)
- samhairle caillí m (“disagreeable hag”)
- smior chailleach f (“spinal marrow”)
- sparán na caillí mairbhe m (“egg-case of skate, mermaid's purse”)
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Mutation
| Irish mutation |
|---|
| Radical |
Lenition |
Eclipsis |
| cailleach
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chailleach
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gcailleach
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Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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References
Scottish Gaelic
Etymology
From Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.
Pronunciation
Noun
cailleach f (genitive singular cailliche, plural cailleachan)
- old woman
- woman, wife
- hag, crone
- cowl (on a chimney)
Derived terms
Terms derived from cailleach
- cailleach-baic f (“in cutting peats, the outside peat in a bank”)
- cailleach-bhàn f (“snowy owl”)
- cailleach bheag an earbaill f (“long-tailed tit”)
- cailleach-chasach f (“cheslip; millipede”)
- cailleach-cheann-dubh f (“cole titmouse, cole; black cap”)
- cailleach-chòsach f (“cheslip”)
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- cailleach-dhubh f (“nun; European shag, common shag”)
- cailleach-fhasgnaidh f (“corn fanner”)
- cailleach-fhraoich f (“a large sheaf of heather tied tightly together with ropes of the same material, used as a door to a sheep cot or similar building”)
- cailleach-oidhche gheal, cailleach-bhàn f (“white owl”)
- cailleach-oidhche-mhòr f (“eagle owl”)
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- cailleach-oidhche f (“common owl; tawny owl; spiritless fellow; butterfly”)
- Cailleach f (“the week in spring after “Gearran”, i.e. from 12th to 18th April”)
- cailleach-spuinge f (“touchwood, soft tinder”)
- cailleach-uisge f (“water-woman, water-carlin; diseased potato containing only water”)
- cìochan nan cailleach marbha m (“foxglove”)
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References