uair

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish úar, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “time, period”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uəɾʲ/

Noun

uair f (genitive singular uaire, nominative plural uaireanta or uaire)

1. hour
2. time (instance or occurrence)

Usage notes

• Uair has the irregular count plural uaire, which undergoes spontaneous h-prothesis with trí through sé:
  • trí huaire ― three hours; three times
  • cúig huaire ― five hours; five times
  • seacht n-uaire ― seven hours; seven times

Declension

Declension of uair

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative uair uaireanta Vocative a uair a uaireanta Genitive uaire uaireanta Dative uair uaireanta

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an uair na huaireanta Genitive na huaire na n-uaireanta Dative leis an uair don uair leis na huaireanta

• Alternative plural: uaireanna

Synonyms

• (hour): uair an chloig

Derived terms

• aimpéaruair
• anuair
• athuair
• cá huair
• cén uair
• fo-uair
• nuair
• uaireanta

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
uair	n-uair	huair	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “uair”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 770
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “uair”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Middle Irish

Noun

uair

1. Alternative spelling of úair

Mutation

Middle Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
uair	unchanged	n-uair
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old Irish

Noun

uair

1. Alternative spelling of úair

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
uair (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-uair
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish úar, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “time, period”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uəɾʲ/

Noun

uair f (genitive singular uarach, plural uairean)

1. hour
2. o'clock
3. time (instance or occurrence)

   B’ e a’ chiad uair a chunnaic mi iad.

   That was the first time I saw them.

   Choisinn e ceithir uair ann.

   He walked there four times.

   Seo an uair mu dheireadh a tha mi gad chuideachadh!

   This is the last time I’m helping you!

   uair no dhà

   once or twice

   uair a thìde no dhà

   (for) an hour or two

Synonyms

• (time): àm, tìde, tìm, ùine

Derived terms

• an uair sin (“then (at that time)”)
• corra uair (“occasionally”)
• ge be uair (“whenever”)
• nuair (“when”)
• uair is uair (“time and again”)
• uaireadair (“clock, watch”)
• uaireannan (“sometimes”)
• uaireigin (“sometime”)

 

References

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 úar, úair”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language