cathaiseach

Irish

Etymology 1

From Old Irish cathaisech (“vigilant; noisy”). By surface analysis, cathais (“vigil, watch”) +‎ -ach. Compare Cathasach (name).

Adjective

cathaiseach (genitive singular masculine cathaisigh, genitive singular feminine cathaisí, plural cathaiseacha, comparative cathaisí)

1. (literary) vigilant, watchful

   Synonyms: airdeallach, aireach

Etymology 2

Adjective

cathaiseach (genitive singular masculine cathaisigh, genitive singular feminine cathaisí, plural cathaiseacha, comparative cathaisí)

1. Alternative form of caithiseach (“affectionate; attractive; delightful, delicious”)

Declension

Declension of cathaiseach

	Singular		Plural (m/f)
Positive	Masculine	Feminine	(strong noun)	(weak noun)
Nominative	cathaiseach	chathaiseach	cathaiseacha; chathaiseacha²
Vocative	chathaisigh		cathaiseacha
Genitive		cathaisí	cathaiseacha	cathaiseach
Dative	cathaiseach; chathaiseach¹	chathaiseach; chathaisigh (archaic)	cathaiseacha; chathaiseacha²
Comparative	níos cathaisí
Superlative	is cathaisí

¹ When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article.
² When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cathaiseach	chathaiseach	gcathaiseach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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