cailleach

English

Alternative forms

• caillach, cailliach

Etymology

From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic.

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleaches)

1. (Scotland) old woman

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Irish

cailleach

Etymology

From Old Irish caillech (“nun, housekeeper, elderly woman, crone, hag”), from caille (“veil”) (+ -ech), from Latin pallium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈlʲax/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkal̠ʲəx/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkal̠ʲa(h)/

Noun

cailleach f (genitive singular caillí, nominative plural cailleacha)

1. (historical) nun

   Synonyms: cailleach dhubh, cailleach Mhuire

2. old woman, hag; midwife
   1. witch

   2015 [2014], Will Collins, translated by Proinsias Mac a' Bhaird, edited by Maura McHugh, Amhrán na Mara (fiction; paperback), Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Howth, Dublin: Cartoon Saloon; Coiscéim, translation of Song of the Sea (in English), →ISBN, page 7:

   Macha, Cailleach na nUlchabhán

   [original: Macha the Owl Witch]

   1. (informal, usually derogatory) old dear
   2. (informal, also offensive, derogatory) old girl
3. precocious girl
4. (informal, offensive, derogatory) bag, bat, bitch, cat, cow, dog, jade, shrew
5. (of man):
   1. (contemptuously) spineless fellow, coward

      Synonym: cailleach fir

   2. (facetiously, in direct address) lad!
6. spent, shrivelled, thing
7. stump; obstructing object
8. (of straw, wrack) truss, bundle
9. stone weight (on rope, net)
10. recess for bed; alcove; (familiar) snuggery

    Synonym: cailleach shúgáin

11. rainmaker
12. scold
13. (architecture) outshot; return
14. hagfish, borer

Declension

Declension of cailleach

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative cailleach cailleacha Vocative a chailleach a chailleacha Genitive caillí cailleach Dative cailleach cailligh (archaic, dialectal) cailleacha

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an chailleach na cailleacha Genitive na caillí na gcailleach Dative leis an gcailleach leis an gcailligh (archaic, dialectal) don chailleach don chailligh (archaic, dialectal) leis na cailleacha

Derived terms

• beacán na caillí m (“lady in the veil (type of mushroom)”)
• cailleach an ghiodail f (“pert hussy”)
• cailleach an uafáis f (“alarmist; scaremonger”)
• cailleach bhasctha f (“protruding object in ground”)
• cailleach bheag f (“bee orchid”)
• cailleach bhreac f (“larger spotted dog-fish”)
• cailleach bhréagach f (“spotted orchid”)
• cailleach chneasta f (“white witch”)
• cailleach chrainn f (“wood-louse”)
• cailleach dharach f (“oak stump”)
• cailleach dhearg f (“common poppy; corn poppy”)
• cailleach dhubh f (“nun; cormorant”)
• cailleach feasa f (“sorceress, witch; wise woman, fortune-teller”)
• cailleach fhada f (“long-headed poppy”)
• cailleach fhuar f (“early purple orchid”)
• cailleach gheamaireachta f (“pantomime dame”)
• cailleach ghiúise f (“pine stump”)
• cailleach ghoile f (“tapeworm”)
• cailleach Mhuire f (“nun”)
• cailleach na clúide f (“old woman in the chimney-corner”)
• cailleach na gcearc f (“hag, witch”)
• cailleach na luatha buí f (“sit-by-the-fire; cinderella”)
• cailleach na luatha f (“cricket; sit-by-the-fire; cinderella”)
• cailleach na mbréag f (“lying hussy”)
• cailleach oíche f (“owl; death watch beetle”)
• cailleach phiseogach f (“sorceress, charm-worker”)
• cailleach phráta f (“shrivelled potato; old seed-potato”)
• cailleach rua f (“loach”)
• cailleachas m (“haggishness”)
• cailleachúil (“haggish; womanish”, adj)
• codladh na Caillí Béarra m (“protracted sleep”)
• comhrá cailleach m (“old wives’ tales”)
• feoil na caillí f (“polyporus”)
• fia-chailleach f (“hag, witch; unruly woman”)
• galar scuab na caillí m (“witch's broom”)
• gas caillí Artach m (“northern rock-cress”)
• gas caillí duimhche m (“fringed rock-cress”)
• gas caillí giobach m (“hairy rock-cress”)
• hata caillí m (“witch's hat”)
• leigheas caillí, leigheas na caillí m (“old woman's remedy”)
• méara na caillí f (“mermaid's glove”)
• peata caillí m (“pampered child, no-good person”, literally “an old woman’s pet”)
• ruacán caillí m (“crone”)
• samhairle caillí m (“disagreeable hag”)
• scuab caillí f (“witch's broomstick”)
• seanchailleach f (“witch, hag”)
• smior chailleach f (“spinal marrow”)
• snaidhm chaillí f (“granny knot”)
• sparán na caillí mairbhe m (“egg-case of skate; mermaid's purse”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cailleach	chailleach	gcailleach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cailleach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “caillech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cailleach”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “cailleach”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
• “cailleach”, in The National Terminology Database for Irish, Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU and Foras na Gaeilge, 2006–2024

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Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cailleach, from Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkeljʌx], [ˈkalʌx], [ˈkaljʌx]

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleachs)

1. old woman, crone

   Synonym: auld wife

References

• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎^[1], Stirling, →ISBN

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʰaʎəx/

Noun

cailleach f (genitive singular cailliche, plural cailleachan)

1. old woman
2. woman, wife
3. hag, crone
4. cowl (on a chimney)

Derived terms

• cailleach bheag an earbaill f (“long-tailed tit”)
• cailleach-baic f (“in cutting peats, the outside peat in a bank”)
• cailleach-bhàn f (“snowy owl”)
• cailleach-chasach f (“cheslip; millipede”)
• cailleach-cheann-dubh f (“cole titmouse, cole; black cap”)
• cailleach-chòsach f (“cheslip”)
• cailleach-dhubh f (“nun; European shag, common shag”)
• cailleach-fhasgnaidh f (“corn fanner”)
• cailleach-fhraoich f (“a large sheaf of heather tied tightly together with ropes of the same material, used as a door to a sheep cot or similar building”)
• cailleach-oidhche gheal, cailleach-bhàn f (“white owl”)
• cailleach-oidhche-mhòr f (“eagle owl”)
• cailleach-oidhche f (“common owl; tawny owl; spiritless fellow; butterfly”)
• cailleach-spuinge f (“touchwood, soft tinder”)
• cailleach-uisge f (“water-woman, water-carlin; diseased potato containing only water”)
• Cailleach f (“the week in spring after “Gearran”, i.e. from 12th to 18th April”)
• cìochan nan cailleach marbha m (“foxglove”)

 

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
cailleach	chailleach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎^[2], Stirling, →ISBN