tuáille

Irish

Etymology

From Middle Irish tuáille, borrowed from Middle English towel, towail, towaille or else directly from Old French toaille, from Frankish *þwahila (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahilō (“wash-cloth”, literally “something used for washing”), from *þwahaną (“to wash”), from Proto-Indo-European *tʷak- (“to bathe”).

Noun

tuáille m (genitive singular tuáille, nominative plural tuáillí)

towel

Declension

Declension of tuáille

Fourth declension

Bare forms

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tuáille	tuáillí
Vocative	a thuáille	a thuáillí
Genitive	tuáille	tuáillí
Dative	tuáille	tuáillí

Forms with the definite article

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	an tuáille	na tuáillí
Genitive	an tuáille	na dtuáillí
Dative	leis an tuáille don tuáille	leis na tuáillí

Derived terms

éadach tuáillí m, tuáilléadach m (“terry cloth”)
ráille tuáillí m (“towel-rail”)
tuáille páipéir (“paper towel”) (for drying hands)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
tuáille	thuáille	dtuáille
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

"tuáille" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
“tuáille” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.