fichead

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): [ˈfʲɪhəd̪ˠ]
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): [ˈfʲɪçəd̪ˠ]

Noun

fichead m

1. genitive singular of fiche

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
fichead	fhichead	bhfichead
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish fichet (compare Manx feed), genitive singular of fiche (“twenty”), from Proto-Celtic *wikantī (compare Welsh ugain), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wih₁ḱm̥t (compare Latin vīgintī), from *dwi(h₁)dḱm̥ti (“two-ten”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfiçət̪/

Numeral

fichead

1. twenty

Usage notes

• The following noun is in the singular:

  fichead leabhar ― twenty books

• In the older, vigesimal system of counting in Scottish Gaelic, the numerals 40, 60, 80, 120, 140, 160 and 180 are denoted as multiples of 20, hence:

  dà fhichead leabhar ― forty books (literally, “two [times] twenty books”)

  seachd fichead leabhar ― 140 books (literally, “seven [times] twenty books”)

Derived terms

• air fhichead (“twenty-...”)
• ficheadamh (“twentieth”)

Noun

fichead m

1. twenty, score

Mutation

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

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “fichead”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (John Grant, Edinburgh, 1925, Complied by Malcolm MacLennan)
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “fiche”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language