caint

See also: Caint and cain't

Irish

Alternative forms

• cainnt (superseded)

Etymology

From Old Irish cainnt (“speech, talk, conversation; act of speaking”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /kɑin̠ʲtʲ/
• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /kan̠ʲtʲ/, /kain̠ʲtʲ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /kæn̠ʲtʲ/

Noun

caint f (genitive singular cainte, nominative plural cainteanna)

1. speech
2. talking (acting as a verbal noun for a verb with no finite forms)

   Tá sé ag caint liom.

   He's talking to me

Declension

Declension of caint (second declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative caint cainteanna vocative a chaint a chainteanna genitive cainte cainteanna dative caint cainteanna forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an chaint na cainteanna genitive na cainte na gcainteanna dative leis an gcaint don chaint leis na cainteanna

Derived terms

• alamais chainte f (“incoherent speech”)
• bolgchaint f (“ventriloquism”)
• cainteach (“talkative, chatty”)
• cainteoir m (“speaker”)
• mionchaint f (“small talk”)
• síorchaint f (“(act of) talking continually; never-ending talk”)

 

Mutation

Mutated forms of caint

radical	lenition	eclipsis
caint	chaint	gcaint

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

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “cainnt”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 106
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “caint”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “caint”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “caint”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024