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beagan. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
beagan, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
beagan in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
beagan you have here. The definition of the word
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beagan, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Scottish Gaelic
Etymology
From Old Irish becán m (“a little, small quantity”) (compare Irish beagán, Manx beggan). By surface analysis, beag (“small, little”) + -an.
Pronunciation
Noun
beagan m (genitive singular beagain, no plural)
- a few, a small number
- beagan mhionaidean ― a few minutes
- an ceann beagain làithean ― at the end of a few days
- a little, a small amount, bit, a bit
- beagan uisge ― a little water
- beagan bìdh ― a bit of food
Usage notes
- Followed by the genitive case, de and the dative case, or a prepositional pronoun derived from de:
- beagan ime / beagan de dh'ìm ― a small amount of butter
- beagan dhinn ― a few of us
- Used where English uses determiner, adverb or pronoun.
- beagan chàirdean ― a few friends
- beagan dhiubh ― a small number of them
- beagan nas sine ― a bit older / slightly older
- beagan nas slaodaiche ― a little more slowly
- Tha i dìreach beagan is còig ceud meatair. ― It’s just a little over five hundred metres.
- Tha airgead aig beagan. ― A few have money.
- Bha e doirbh airson bheagain. ― It was difficult for a few.
Antonyms
References
- ^ Oftedal, M. (1956) A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
- ^ John MacPherson (1945) The Gaelic dialect of North Uist (Thesis), Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh
- ^ Roy Wentworth (2003) Gaelic Words and Phrases From Wester Ross / Faclan is Abairtean à Ros an Iar, Inverness: CLÀR, →ISBN
- ^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1937) The dialect of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
- ^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1941) A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. II: The dialects of Skye and Ross-shire, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
Further reading
- Edward Dwelly (1911) “beagan”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “becán”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language