uilig

From uil (“owl”) +‎ -ig (“-y, -ish”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈœy̯.ləx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ui‧lig
• Rhymes: -œy̯ləx

uilig (not comparable)

1. silly, goofy, dopey
2. (physically) resembling owls

• uiligheid

• alig, uileag

Apparently a clipping of uile go léir, as cited in a letter from Holger Pedersen to Franz Nikolaus Finck.^[1]

• (Galway) IPA^(key): /əˈlʲʊɡ/, /əˈlʲɞɡ/^[2][3] (corresponding to the form uileag)
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈɨ̞lʲiɟ/^[4]

uilig (indeclinable)

1. (Connacht, Ulster) alternative form of uile (“all, entire”)

• 1894 March, Peadar Mac Fionnlaoigh, “An rí nach robh le fagháil bháis”, in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, volume 1:5, Dublin: Gaelic Union, pages 185–88:

  Bhí sé pósta ar sheisear ban i ndiaidh a chéile, acht do mharbhuigh sé alig an tsaoghal iad, ar eagla go mbeidheadh páistídhe ar bith aca.

  He was married to six wives, one after another, but he killed all-in-the-world of them for fear they should have any children at all.

• 1988, Mícheál Ó Siadhail, Lesson 8, in Learning Irish (overall work in English), Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 38:

  […] bhí na gasúir bheaga uilig tuirseach agus cantalach. […] Má bhíonn an tseachtain uilig fliuch, deir na múinteoirí go mbíonn sé go dona.

  […] all the little children were tired and cranky. […] If the entire week is wet, the teachers say that it’s bad.

uilig

1. (Connacht, Ulster) alternative form of uile (“altogether, entirely”)

• 1988, Mícheál Ó Siadhail, Lesson 8, in Learning Irish (overall work in English), Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 38:

  Tá neart múinteóirí anseo, cé nach bhfuil mórán gasúir uilig ann.

  There are a lot of teachers here, although there are not many children altogether there.

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “uilig”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• “uilig”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025