feum

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish feidm (“effort”), from Proto-Celtic *wédes-men- (“need-service”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /feːm/

Noun

feum m (genitive singular feuma or fèim)

need, necessity
ann 'am fheum ― in my time of need

'S e am feum a thug air sin a dhèanamh. ― Dire necessity made him do that.
use, usefulness
Chan eil feum annad. ― There is no use in you.

Dè is feum dha? ― What is the use of it?

Is beag feum a tha ort. ― You are quite useless.
poverty
worth
occasion
Chan eil feum ort. ― There is no occasion for (or need of) you.

Derived terms

Terms derived from feum

dèan feum de (“use, exploit, make use of, utilize”, verb)
feumach (“necessitous, needful, needy”)

feumail (“useful, beneficial, helpful, handy, of use, serviceable, requisite”)
gun fheum (“useless, needless; uselessly, needlessly”)

mì-fheum m (“abuse, misapplication”)

References

Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
“feidm” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

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