beagán

See also: beagan

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish becán m (“a little, small quantity”) (compare Scottish Gaelic beagan, Manx beggan); synchronically, beag (“small, little”) +‎ -án

Pronunciation
  • (Aran) IPA(key): /ˈbʲɞɡɑːnˠ/

Noun

beagán m (genitive singular beagáin, nominative plural beagáin)

  1. a little, a bit (small amount) (+ genitive)
  2. a few (+ genitive)
    i mbeagán focal ― in a few words
    Níl ach beagán cairde aige. ― He has only a few friends.
  3. (as adverb) a little, somewhat

Declension
Declension of beagán

First declension

Bare forms:

Case Singular Plural
Nominative beagán beagáin
Vocative a bheagáin a bheagána
Genitive beagáin beagán
Dative beagán beagáin

Forms with the definite article:

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an beagán na beagáin
Genitive an bheagáin na mbeagán
Dative leis an mbeagán

don bheagán

 leis na beagáin

Derived terms
  • ar bheagán focal (“of few words”)
  • ar bheagán stóir, ar bheagán stró (“badly off”)
  • beagán ar bheagán (“little by little”)
  • déan mórán agus can beagán (“actions speak louder than words”, literally “do much and say little”)
  • duifean mór ar bheagán fearthainne (“much ado about nothing”, literally “much cloud bringing little rain”)
  • éist mórán agus can beagán (“be patient in hearing and reserved in speech”, literally “hear much and say little”)
  • glór mór ar bheagán cúise (“a lot of fuss about nothing”)
  • i mbeagán focal (“succinctly”, literally “in a few words”)
  • is fearr beagán den ghaol ná mórán den charthanas (“blood is thicker than water”, literally “better a little kinship than a lot of charity”)
  • le beagán cainte (“in a few words”)
  • mórán cainte ar bheagán cúise (“much ado about nothing”)

Mutation
Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
beagán bheagán mbeagán
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References
  • "beagán" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • “becán” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Northern Sami

Pronunciation
  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈpea̯kaːn/

Verb

beagán

  1. first-person singular present indicative of beahkit
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.