fiacháil

Irish

Alternative forms

• féacháil
• feucháil (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic feuchail (from Middle Irish fégaid, féchaid and thus related to féach (“to look”)), as shown by both the phonology (the change of Middle Irish é to /ia̯/ is typical of Scottish Gaelic but not of Ulster Irish) and the semantic shift from “look” to “test, taste”.

Pronunciation

• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈfʲia̯xælʲ/

Noun

fiacháil f (genitive singular fiachála, nominative plural fiachálacha) (Ulster)

1. a trial, attempt, test
2. a (small) taste
3. a contest

Declension

Declension of fiacháil

Third declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative fiacháil fiachálacha Vocative a fhiacháil a fhiachálacha Genitive fiachála fiachálacha Dative fiacháil fiachálacha

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an fhiacháil na fiachálacha Genitive na fiachála na bhfiachálacha Dative leis an bhfiacháil don fhiacháil leis na fiachálacha

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
fiacháil	fhiacháil	bhfiacháil
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• “fiacháil”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “féaċáil”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 301
• “fiacháil”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “fiacháil”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “fiacháil”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN