-áil
See also: ail, ail-, -ail, àil, áil, and Äil
Irish
Alternative forms
- -áilt
Etymology
Extracted from gabháil and fáil (earlier faghbháil).
Pronunciation
- (Munster, Connacht) IPA(key): /aːlʲ/
- (Ulster) IPA(key): /ælʲ/; /æl̠ʲtʲ/ (corresponding to the form -áilt)
Suffix
-áil f
- suffix used to form verbal nouns
- fáil, formerly spelled fagháil, verbal noun of faigh (“to get”)
- gabháil, verbal noun of gabh (“to take”)
Declension
Declension of -áil
Third declension
Bare forms:
| Forms with the definite article:
|
Suffix
-áil
- suffix used productively to form denominative verbs and their associated verbal nouns
- iarann (“iron”) + -áil → iarnáil (“to iron”)
- spág (“a big, clumsy foot”) + -áil → spágáil (“to shamble, trudge”)
Usage notes
This suffix is particularly common with English loanwords. The Irish-language poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh in his poem "Cainteoir Dúchais" (published 1997 in the collection Out in the Open) uses the following verbs, most of them probably nonce words:
- hoovereáil (“to hoover”)
- jeyes-fluideáil (“to disinfect with Jeyes Fluid”)
- harpickeáil (“to clean with Harpic”)
- vimeáil (“to clean with Vim”)
- flasháil (“to clean with Flash”)
- windoleneáil (“to clean with Windolene”)
- eau-de-cologneáil (“to apply eau de Cologne to”)
- shagáilte (“shagged out”)
- cruiseáil (“to cruise”)
Derived terms
Irish terms suffixed with -áil