beagan
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See also: beagán
Scottish Gaelic[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Irish becán m (“a little, small quantity”) (compare Irish beagán, Manx beggan). By surface analysis, beag (“small, little”) + -an.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
beagan m (genitive singular beagain, no plural)
- a few, a small number
- beagan mhionaidean ― a few minutes
- an ceann beagain làithean ― at the end of a few days
- a little, a small amount, bit, a bit
- beagan uisge ― a little water
- beagan bìdh ― a bit of food
Usage notes[edit]
- Followed by the genitive case, de and the dative case, or a prepositional pronoun derived from de:
- beagan ime / beagan de dh'ìm ― a small amount of butter
- beagan dhinn ― a few of us
- Used where English uses determiner, adverb or pronoun.
- beagan chàirdean ― a few friends
- beagan dhiubh ― a small number of them
- beagan nas sine ― a bit older / slightly older
- beagan nas slaodaiche ― a little more slowly
- Tha i dìreach beagan is còig ceud meatair. ― It’s just a little over five hundred metres.
- Tha airgead aig beagan. ― A few [people] have money.
- Bha e doirbh airson bheagain. ― It was difficult for a few.
Antonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- Edward Dwelly (1911) “beagan”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary][1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “becán”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language