faic

Irish

Etymology

Probably borrowed from English whack.

Noun

faic m (genitive singular faic, nominative plural faiceanna)

1. whack
2. (with negative) nothing

   Níl aon faic air.

   there is nothing wrong with him.

   Níor fágadh faic agam.

   I was left with nothing.

3. Stick used in game resembling hunt the slipper.

Declension

Declension of faic (fourth declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative faic faiceanna vocative a fhaic a fhaiceanna genitive faic faiceanna dative faic faiceanna forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an fhaic na faiceanna genitive na faic na bhfaiceanna dative leis an bhfaic don fhaic leis na faiceanna

Mutation

Mutated forms of faic

radical	lenition	eclipsis
faic	fhaic	bhfaic

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) “faic”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

From Old Irish ·aicci, prototonic form of ad·cí (“sees, notices, observes; perceives, discerns, realizes”), from Proto-Celtic *adkʷiseti, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“observe”) or *kʷes-. The initial f- of the modern form (see also Irish feic, Manx faik) comes from the misinterpretation of aic- as lenited fhaic-.

Pronunciation

• (Lewis) IPA^(key): /fẽʰkʲ/
• (North Uist, Barra) IPA^(key): /fɛ̃çkʲ/
• (South Uist) IPA^(key): /fãçkʲ/

Verb

faic (past chunnaic, future chì, verbal noun faicinn, past participle faicte)

1. see, look, behold

Conjugation

Conjugation of faic (irregular)

		singular			plural			impersonal
		first	second	third m/f	first	second	third
independent	past	chunnaic mi chunna mi	chunnaic thu chunna tu	chunnaic e/i chunna e/i	chunnaic sinn chunna sinn	chunnaic sibh chunna sibh	chunnaic iad chunna iad	chunnacas chunnacadh
	future	chì mi	chì thu	chì e/i	chì sinn	chì sibh	chì iad	chithear
	conditional	chithinn	chitheadh tu	chitheadh e/i	chitheadh sinn chitheamaid	chitheadh sibh	chitheadh iad	chìte(adh) chithist(e)1
negative	past	chan fhaca mi	chan fhaca tu	chan fhaca e/i	chan fhaca sinn	chan fhaca sibh	chan fhaca iad	chan fhacas chan fhacadh
	future	chan fhaic mi	chan fhaic thu	chan fhaic e/i	chan fhaic sinn	chan fhaic sibh	chan fhaic iad	chan fhaicear chan fhaictear
	conditional	chan fhaicinn	chan fhaiceadh tu	chan fhaiceadh e/i	chan fhaiceadh sinn chan fhaiceamaid	chan fhaiceadh sibh	chan fhaiceadh iad	chan fhaicte(adh) chan fhaicist(e)1
affirmative interrogative	past	am faca mi?	am faca tu?	am faca e/i?	am faca sinn?	am faca sibh?	am faca iad?	am facas? am facadh?
	future	am faic mi?	am faic thu?	am faic e/i?	am faic sinn?	am faic sibh?	am faic iad?	am faicear? am faictear?
	conditional	am faicinn?	am faiceadh tu?	am faiceadh e/i?	am faiceadh sinn? am faiceamaid?	am faiceadh sibh?	am faiceadh iad?	am faicte(adh)? am faicist(e)?1
negative interrogative	past	nach fhaca mi?	nach fhaca tu?	nach fhaca e/i?	nach fhaca sinn?	nach fhaca sibh?	nach fhaca iad?	nach fhacas? nach fhacadh?
	future	nach fhaic mi?	nach fhaic thu?	nach fhaic e/i?	nach fhaic sinn?	nach fhaic sibh?	nach fhaic iad?	nach fhaicear? nach fhaictear
	conditional	nach fhaicinn?	nach fhaiceadh tu?	nach fhaiceadh e/i?	nach fhaiceadh sinn? nach fhaiceamaid?	nach fhaiceadh sibh?	nach fhaiceadh iad?	nach fhaicte(adh)? nach fhaicist(e)?1
relative future		(a) chì mi	(a) chì thu	(a) chì e/i	(a) chì sinn	(a) chì sibh	(a) chì iad	(a) chithear
imperative		faiceam!	faic!	faiceadh e/i!	faiceamaid!	faicibh!	faiceadh iad!	faicear! faictear!
verbal noun		faicinn
past participle		faicte

¹ Lewis dialect form

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

faic f (genitive singular faice, plural faicean)

1. hiding place, den, hole
2. sparkle
3. pigsty
4. badly-kept house

Mutation

Mutation of faic

radical	lenition
faic	fhaic

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) “faic”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[2], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ad-cí”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language