fear dathúil
/fʲaɾˠ ˈd̪ˠahuːlʲ/word by word
The Irish phrase for 'handsome man' is fear dathúil.
fear dathúil is used to describe a man who is physically attractive.
What does it mean word for word?
fear means 'man' and dathúil means 'handsome' or 'attractive'.
How does it change in a sentence?
When you want to say 'the handsome man', the definite article is placed before the noun rather than the adjective, resulting in an fear dathúil.
How do you pronounce it?
/fʲaɾˠ ˈd̪ˠahuːlʲ/
Did you know?
- The Irish word for man fear is a distant relative of the Old English word 'wer', which survives today only in the word 'werewolf'.
- The adjective dathúil is built from the word dath, which means 'color'. To call someone handsome is quite literally to say they are 'colorful'.
- In Irish, the word fear can also mean 'husband' depending on the context, meaning fear dathúil could be interpreted as 'a handsome husband'.
Examples in context
- Tá sé thar a bheith breá! Fear breá tusa!He is really handsome! You're a handsome man!
- Fear dathúil é.He is a handsome man.
- An fear dathúil sin?That handsome man?
- Ní fear dathúil é.He is not a handsome man.
Example conversation
Niamh and Conor are talking about a new actor in a movie.
- NiamhCé is é an t-actor nua sin?Who is that new actor?
- ConorIs fear dathúil é, nach ea?He is a handsome man, isn't he?
- NiamhTá tú ceart, tá sé an-dathúil.You are right, he is very handsome.
- ConorIs fear dathúil é go hiomlán.He is a completely handsome man.
Sources
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (fear, dathúil) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries dathúil, fear, CC BY-SA 4.0.
