cúigear

Irish

cúigear

Etymology

From Old Irish cóicer, possibly from cóic (“five”) + fer (“man”), though that may be a folk etymology.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuːɟəɾˠ/

Noun

cúigear m (genitive singular cúigir, nominative plural cúigir) (triggers no mutation)

1. a group of five people

   Tá cúigear mac agam. ― I have five sons.

Usage notes

• Generally used with the genitive plural when referring to human beings and the preposition de when referring to other things.

Declension

Declension of cúigear

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative cúigear cúigir Vocative a chúigir a chúigeara Genitive cúigir cúigear Dative cúigear cúigir

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an cúigear na cúigir Genitive an chúigir na gcúigear Dative leis an gcúigear don chúigear leis na cúigir

Related terms

• cúig (“five”) (non-personal)
• cúigréad (“quintet”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cúigear	chúigear	gcúigear
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cúigear”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “cóicer”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language