Taoiseach

See also: taoiseach

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish Taoiseach (“chief; leader; Taoiseach”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: tēʹshəĸʜ, tēʹshăĸʜ, IPA^(key): /ˈtiːʃəx/, /ˈtiːʃax/

Proper noun

Taoiseach

1. Head of the Irish government, comparable to a British or Australian Prime Minister.
2. Title of the person holding that office.

Usage notes

• As a title the word should always be capitalised.
• When describing the political position, the word is sometimes capitalised but lower case is typically used.

See also

• taoiseach

References

• “Taoiseach” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]

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Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish toísech (“leader”), from Primitive Irish ᚈᚑᚃᚔᚄᚐᚉᚔ (tovisaci, genitive), from Proto-Celtic *towissākos (“leader”) (compare Welsh tywysog (“prince”)), from either Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“lead”) or *weid- (“know, see”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt̪ˠiːʃəx]
• IPA^(key): [ˈt̪ˠiːʃax], [ˈt̪ˠiːʃah]

• Taoiseach:

  (file)

Noun

Taoiseach m (genitive singular Taoisigh, nominative plural Taoisigh)

1. Head of the Irish government, comparable to a UK or Australian Prime Minister.
2. Title of the person holding that office.

Declension

Declension of Taoiseach

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative Taoiseach Taoisigh Vocative a Thaoisigh a Thaoiseacha Genitive Taoisigh Taoiseach Dative Taoiseach Taoisigh

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an Taoiseach na Taoisigh Genitive an Taoisigh na dTaoiseach Dative leis an Taoiseach don Taoiseach leis na Taoisigh

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
Taoiseach	Thaoiseach	dTaoiseach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “Taoiseach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “Taoiseach”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “Taoiseach”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024