meathán

Irish

Alternative forms

• mathán, meathach, meathánach, meitheán, miothán

Etymology

From Middle Irish methán.

Pronunciation

• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈmahanˠ/, /ˈmahan̪ˠ/ (corresponding to the form mathán)

Noun

meathán m (genitive singular meatháin, nominative plural meatháin)

1. anything pliable
2. sucker (stem growing up from the roots of a plant), twig, sapling
3. splinter (fragment of material)

   Synonyms: scealp, scealpóg

4. (crafts) splint (in basketweaving)
5. weakling

   Synonyms: lagrachán, fágálach

Declension

Declension of meathán (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative meathán meatháin vocative a mheatháin a mheathána genitive meatháin meathán dative meathán meatháin forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an meathán na meatháin genitive an mheatháin na meathán dative leis an meathán don mheathán leis na meatháin

Derived terms

• meathán mara (“sea rush”)
• meathán íochtair (“tiller (shoot of a plant)”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of meathán

radical	lenition	eclipsis
meathán	mheathán	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

• “meathán”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “methán”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “meathán”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 477
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “meathán”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN