Irish Words

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To hear the pronunciation, copy the bold words and paste them into the box at abair.ie, and then push the “Synthesise” button. The page will re-load, and then it will speak.

a chara – my friend
a stór – dear (literally, “my treasure”)
amadáin – fools
an chéad chat – the first cat
ban-feis – fertility rite (literally, “women-feast”)
bhean – woman
bodhrán – a drum
boithrín – lane
buachaill – boy (as in cowherd or yokel)
cailín – girl
ceilidhe – a word used to denote a kind of dance or a dancing party, possibly derived from “together”
claddagh – a characteristic ring, once crafted in the village of Claddagh
clann – the children of a family
crannog – a primitive Celtic house
fáilte – welcome
fleadh cheoil – musical festival
gardaí – guards
goitse – Come along! (as in “hurry up, slowpoke” – not a polite way to address an adult)
mo – my, mine
mo anmchara – my soul-friend
scraitheog – turf shovel (for removing top scraw layer, above peat)
sean tigh – old house
seanchaí – storyteller
sean-nós – old style
sí – fairy
sláinte – health
sleán – turf spade (for cutting peat into sods for burning)
sráideog – shakedown, a bed on the floor
tuath – territory, domain
uilleann – elbow
uisce beatha – whiskey

Some numbers:

a haon – one
aon chat amháin – one cat
cat amháin – one cat
aon duine amháin – one person
a dó – two
dhá chat – two cats
beirt – two persons
a naoi – nine
a naoi déag – nineteen
naoi gcat déag – nineteen cats
naoi nduine dhéag – nineteen people
naoi gcat – nine cats
naonúr – nine persons