màthair
/ˈmãːhəð/feminine
The Gaelic word for mother is màthair.
màthair is the primary word for a mother, the woman who gives birth to or raises a child. It is used both when talking about your own mother and about mothers in general.
Meaning: female (human) who gives birth to or parents a child (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
màthair is a feminine noun. After words such as mo, my and do, your, its first sound is softened by adding h after the first letter, so my mother is mo mhàthair.
How do you pronounce it?
màthair is pronounced /ˈmãːhəð/. The first vowel is long and nasal, and the th in the middle is heard as an h.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not keep the plain form after mo. Say mo mhàthair, not mo with the unchanged word.
Did you know?
- In Gaelic, the concept of 'mother' is often expanded in poetic terms to describe the earth as màthair na tìre, which means 'mother of the land'.
- The word màthair shares a common ancestor with the English word 'mother' and the Latin 'mater', tracing back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European root *méh₂tēr.
- While màthair is the formal term, modern Gaelic speakers often use mammy or mummy, which are loanwords adopted from English.
Examples in context
- Tha gaol agam air mo mhàthair.I love my mother.mo mhàthair is the softened form meaning my mother.
- Tha mo màthair an seo.My mother is here.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “mother” translations and entries màthair, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries màthair, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
