cleith

Irish

Alternative forms

cleath, clith

Etymology

From Old Irish cleth (“housepost”), from Proto-Celtic *klitā (“pillar”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlitós (“inclined”). Compare Sanskrit श्रित (śritá, “attached”), Ancient Greek κλίτα (klíta, “cloister”, Hesychius), and Old English ġehlid (“fence”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /clʲɛ(h)/

Noun

cleith f (genitive singular cleithe, nominative plural cleitheanna)

pole (long and slender object for construction or support)
Synonym: cuaille
cudgel (short heavy club with a rounded head)
wattle (construction of branches and twigs), stake (in wattling)
Synonym: caolach
(nautical) yard (tapered timber from which square sails hang)
Synonym: slat
housepost
(obsolete) spear
Synonym: sleá

Declension

Declension of cleith

Second declension

Bare forms

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cleith	cleitha
Vocative	a chleith	a chleitha
Genitive	cleithe	cleith
Dative	cleith	cleitha

Forms with the definite article

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	an chleith	na cleitha
Genitive	na cleithe	na gcleith
Dative	leis an gcleith don chleith	leis na cleitha

Derived terms

cleith ailpín (“knobstick”)
cleith mhullaigh (“ridgepole”)
cleith pubaill (“tent pole”)
cleith sháite (“punt pole”)
cleith uachtair (“gaff (of sail)”)
idir cleith agus ursain (“by the skin of one's teeth, by a hair's breadth, narrowly”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cleith	chleith	gcleith
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.