cailleach

English

Alternative forms

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleachs)

(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)

(historical) nun
old woman, hag; midwife
1. witch
precocious girl
(of man):
1. (contemptuously) spineless fellow, coward
2. (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

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

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”)

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.

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)

old woman, crone

Synonyms

auld wife

References

Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Alexander MacBain, Eneas Mackay, 1911

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkʰaʎəx/

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 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”)

References

Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Alexander MacBain, Eneas Mackay, 1911

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cailleach

English

Alternative forms

Noun

Irish

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

Mutation

Further reading

Scots

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

References

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

References