beagán

See also: beagan

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish becán m (“a little, small quantity”) (compare Scottish Gaelic beagan, Manx beggan); synchronically, beag (“small, little”) +‎ -án

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʲɞɡɑːnˠ/

Noun

beagán m (genitive singular beagáin, nominative plural beagáin)

1. a little, a bit (small amount) (+ genitive)
2. a few (+ genitive)

   i mbeagán focal ― in a few words

   Níl ach beagán cairde aige. ― He has only a few friends.

3. (as adverb) a little, somewhat

Declension

Declension of beagán

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative beagán beagáin Vocative a bheagáin a bheagána Genitive beagáin beagán Dative beagán beagáin

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an beagán na beagáin Genitive an bheagáin na mbeagán Dative leis an mbeagán don bheagán leis na beagáin

Derived terms

• ar bheagán focal (“of few words”)
• ar bheagán stóir, ar bheagán stró (“badly off”)
• beagán ar bheagán (“little by little”)
• déan mórán agus can beagán (“actions speak louder than words”, literally “do much and say little”)
• duifean mór ar bheagán fearthainne (“much ado about nothing”, literally “much cloud bringing little rain”)
• éist mórán agus can beagán (“be patient in hearing and reserved in speech”, literally “hear much and say little”)
• glór mór ar bheagán cúise (“a lot of fuss about nothing”)
• i mbeagán focal (“succinctly”, literally “in a few words”)
• is fearr beagán den ghaol ná mórán den charthanas (“blood is thicker than water”, literally “better a little kinship than a lot of charity”)
• le beagán cainte (“in a few words”)
• mórán cainte ar bheagán cúise (“much ado about nothing”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
beagán	bheagán	mbeagán
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “beagán”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “becán”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

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Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpea̯kaːn/

Verb

beagán

1. first-person singular present indicative of beahkit