nighean

Irish

nighean f (genitive singular nighne, nominative plural nighneacha)

Declension of nighean (second declension)

forms with the definite article
case	singular	plural
nominative	an nighean	na nighneacha
genitive	na nighne	na nighneacha
dative	leis an nighean don nighean	leis na nighneacha

From Old Irish ingen, from Primitive Irish ᚔᚅᚔᚌᚓᚅᚐ (inigena), from Proto-Celtic *enigenā, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁én (“in”) + *ǵenh₁- (“produce, give birth”) (compare Latin indigena (“native”), Ancient Greek ἐγγόνη (engónē, “granddaughter”)).

nighean f (dative nighinn, genitive nighinn or nighinne or ìghne or inghinn, plural nigheanan or nigheannan or nighnean or ìghnean or ingheanan)

daughter, female offspring
girl
maiden, young woman
Synonyms: ainnir, cailin, gruagach, maighdeann, òigh, rìbhinn

An cluinn thu mi, mo nighean donn? ― Will you listen to me, my brown-haired girl?

^✝ obsolete form, used until the 19th century

Irregular declension:

Declension of *nighean* (irregular feminine noun)
indefinite
	singular	plural
nominative	nighean	nigheanan
genitive	nighinn	nighean
dative	nighinn	nigheanan; nigheanaibh (archaic)

definite
	singular	plural
nominative	(an) nighean	(na) h-igheanan; (na) h-ingheanan
genitive	(na) h-ighinn; (na) h-inghinn	(nan) nighean
dative	(an) nighinn; h-ighinn (with possessive pronoun)	(na) h-igheanan; (na) h-ingheanan
vocative	(a) nighean	(a) nigheana; (a) nigheanan

^ Oftedal, M. (1956) A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
^ John MacPherson (1945) The Gaelic dialect of North Uist (Thesis)‎^[1], Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh
^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1937) The dialect of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
^ Roy Wentworth (2003) Gaelic Words and Phrases From Wester Ross / Faclan is Abairtean à Ros an Iar, Inverness: CLÀR, →ISBN