fichead

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Aran, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈfʲɪhəd̪ˠ/
• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /fʲiːd̪ˠ/
• (Mayo) IPA^(key): /ˈfʲɪçəd̪ˠ/

Noun

fichead m

1. genitive singular of fiche

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
fichead	fhichead	bhfichead
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic numbers ^(edit)

		200
←  10	←  19	20	21  → [a], [b]	30  → [a], [b], [c]
		2
Cardinal: fichead     Ordinal: ficheadamh     Ordinal abbreviation: 20mh

Etymology

From Old Irish fichet (compare Manx feed), genitive singular of fiche (“twenty”), from Proto-Celtic *wikantī (compare Welsh ugain), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wih₁ḱm̥t (compare Latin vīgintī), from *dwi(h₁)dḱm̥ti (“two-ten”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfiçət̪/
• (Sutherland, Arran) IPA^(key): /fit̪/; /ˈfi.ət̪/

Numeral

fichead

1. twenty

Usage notes

• The following noun is in the singular:

  fichead leabhar ― twenty books

• In the older, vigesimal system of counting in Scottish Gaelic, the numerals 40, 60, 80, 120, 140, 160 and 180 are denoted as multiples of 20, hence:

  dà fhichead leabhar ― forty books (literally, “two [times] twenty books”)

  seachd fichead leabhar ― 140 books (literally, “seven [times] twenty books”)

Derived terms

• air fhichead (“twenty-...”)
• ficheadamh (“twentieth”)

Noun

fichead m

1. twenty, score

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
fichead	fhichead
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “fichead”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• MacLennan, Malcolm (1925) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Edinburgh: J. Grant, →OCLC
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fiche”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language