seift

Irish

Alternative forms

• seibht, seibhte (obsolete)
• seifte

Etymology

From English shift in its archaic sense “contrivance, device to try when other methods fail”, from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, appoint, arrange”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛfʲtʲ/

Noun

seift f (genitive singular seifte, nominative plural seifteanna)

1. contrivance, measure (action to achieve some purpose)
2. fig leaf (anything intended to conceal something undesirable)

Declension

Declension of seift (second declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative seift seifteanna vocative a sheift a sheifteanna genitive seifte seifteanna dative seift seifteanna forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an tseift na seifteanna genitive na seifte na seifteanna dative leis an tseift don tseift leis na seifteanna

Derived terms

• seifteoir
• seiftigh
• seiftiúil

Mutation

Mutated forms of seift

radical	lenition	eclipsis
seift	sheift after an, tseift	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

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “seiḃte”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 632
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “seift”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN