cuain

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuənʲ/, /kuːnʲ/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish cúan (“litter of pups or other small animals”).

Alternative forms

• cuan

Noun

cuain f (genitive singular cuaine, nominative plural cuaineanna)

1. a litter (of young)
2. brood
3. pack; band, company

Declension

Declension of cuain (second declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative cuain cuaineanna vocative a chuain a chuaineanna genitive cuaine cuaineanna dative cuain cuaineanna forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an chuain na cuaineanna genitive na cuaine na gcuaineanna dative leis an gcuain don chuain leis na cuaineanna

Etymology 2

Noun

cuain m

1. vocative/genitive singular of cuan (“haven; harbour; place of refuge; bow, curve; bowed, stooped, person”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of cuain

radical	lenition	eclipsis
cuain	chuain	gcuain

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) “cuain”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cuain”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “cuain”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

From Old Irish cúan.

Noun

cuain f (genitive singular cuaine, plural cuainean)

1. litter of puppies or piglets

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

cuain m

1. genitive singular of cuan

Mutation

Mutation of cuain

radical	lenition
cuain	chuain

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

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “cuain”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cúan”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language