Irish

Noun

fichead m

1. genitive singular of fiche

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic

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”).

Numeral

fichead

1. (cardinal) 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

References

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, ISBN 0 901771 92 9
• A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (John Grant, Edinburgh, 1925, Complied by Malcolm MacLennan)
• “fiche” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.