béile

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English meal, with m changed to b as a back-formation from the eclipsed form, where *méile was reinterpreted as mbéile.

Noun

béile m (genitive singular béile, nominative plural béilí)

meal (food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time)

Declension

Declension of béile

Fourth declension

Bare forms

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	béile	béilí
Vocative	a bhéile	a bhéilí
Genitive	béile	béilí
Dative	béile	béilí

Forms with the definite article

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	an béile	na béilí
Genitive	an bhéile	na mbéilí
Dative	leis an mbéile don bhéile	leis na béilí

Synonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from béile

béile bainise (“wedding breakfast”)
béile beag (“refection”)

Béile Chonáin (“gargantuan meal”, literally “Meal of Conan”)
béile maidine (“breakfast”)

béile meán lae (“luncheon”)
béile oíche (“supper”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
béile	bhéile	mbéile
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

“béile” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Further reading

"béile" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
“meal” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

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