aife

See also: Aífe

Irish

Alternative forms

• aithbhe (superseded)
• aithe, atha

Etymology

From Old Irish aithbe n (“ebb, reflux (of sea)”).

Noun

aife f (genitive singular aife)

1. ebb
2. decline, decay
3. (chemistry) reflux

Declension

Declension of aife (fourth declension, no plural)

bare forms case singular nominative aife vocative a aife genitive aife dative aife forms with the definite article case singular nominative an aife genitive na haife dative leis an aife don aife

Derived terms

• briseadh aife (“(ruffle caused by) start of ebb-tide”)
• cainéal aife (“ebb channel”)
• comhdhlúthadán aife (“reflux condenser”)
• leath aife (“half-ebb”)
• taoide aife (“ebbing tide”)
• tonn aife (“receding wave”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of aife

radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
aife	n-aife	haife	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “aife”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “aithbe”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “áiṫḃe”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 20
• “aife”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025