cailleach

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic.

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleachs)

  1. (Scotland) an old woman

Irish
cailleach

Etymology

From Old Irish caillech (“nun, housekeeper, elderly woman, crone, hag”), from caille (“veil”) (+ -ech), from Latin pallium.

Noun

cailleach f (genitive singular caillí, nominative plural cailleacha)

  1. (historical) nun
    Synonyms: cailleach dhubh, cailleach Mhuire
  2. old woman, hag; midwife
    1. witch
  3. precocious girl
  4. (of man):
    1. (contemptuously) spineless fellow, coward
      Synonym: cailleach fir
    2. (facetiously, in direct address) lad!
  5. spent, shrivelled, thing
  6. stump; obstructing object
  7. (of straw, wrack) truss, bundle
  8. stone weight (on rope, net)
  9. recess for bed; alcove; (familiar) snuggery
    Synonym: cailleach shúgáin

Declension
Declension of cailleach

Second declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative cailleach cailleacha
Vocative a chailleach a chailleacha
Genitive caillí cailleach
Dative cailleach
cailligh (archaic, dialectal)		 cailleacha

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an chailleach na cailleacha
Genitive na caillí na gcailleach
Dative leis an gcailleach
leis an gcailligh (archaic, dialectal)

don chailleach
don chailligh (archaic, dialectal)

 leis na cailleacha

Derived terms
  • 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”)
  • 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, cailleach na luatha buí f (“sit-by-the-fire; cinderella”)
  • cailleach na luatha f (“cricket”)
  • cailleach na mbréag f (“lying hussy”)
  • cailleach oíche f (“owl”)
  • cailleach phiseogach f (“sorceress, charm-worker”)
  • cailleach phráta f (“shrivelled potato; old seed-potato”)
  • 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”)

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

Further reading

Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cailleach, from Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [ˈkeljʌx], [ˈkalʌx], [ˈkaljʌx]

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleachs)

  1. old woman, crone
    Synonym: auld wife

References

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈkʰaʎəx/

Noun

cailleach f (genitive singular cailliche, plural cailleachan)

  1. old woman
  2. woman, wife
  3. hag, crone
  4. cowl (on a chimney)

Derived terms
  • Cailleach f (“the week in spring after “Gearran”, i.e. from 12th to 18th April”)
  • 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”)
  • 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 f (“common owl; tawny owl; spiritless fellow; butterfly”)
  • cailleach-oidhche gheal, cailleach-bhàn f (“white owl”)
  • cailleach-oidhche-mhòr f (“eagle owl”)
  • cailleach-spuinge f (“touchwood, soft tinder”)
  • cailleach-uisge f (“water-woman, water-carlin; diseased potato containing only water”)
  • cìochan nan cailleach marbha m (“foxglove”)

Mutation
Scottish Gaelic mutation
RadicalLenition
cailleachchailleach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References
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