corcairghorm
The English word "purple" translates to Irish as corcairghorm. Wiktionary also lists purpair.
Meaning: colour (noun)
Ways to say it
| Irish | Note |
|---|---|
| corcairghorm | |
| purpair | feminine |
The term is used to refer to the color purple. It can function as a noun to name the color or as an adjective to describe an object.
Which one should you use?
The forms corcairghorm and purpair are both used for the color, while corcra is an adjective used to describe something as being a purple or crimson color.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The loanword purpair is grammatically feminine.
Did you know?
- The word for 'clover', which is corc, shares the same linguistic root as the color terms for purple and crimson.
- Because gorm can mean both 'blue' and 'green', the word corcairghorm literally describes a mixture of 'crimson' and a color that could be perceived as either blue or green.
- Historically, Irish speakers used corcra to describe a range of deep reds and purples, reflecting a cultural classification of colors that differs from the strict modern English divide between red and purple.
Example sentences for Irish are not verified yet.
Example conversation
Aoife and Oisín are looking at paint samples in a shop.
- AoifeAn bhfuil an dath seo corcairghorm?Is this color purple?
- OisínIs ea, tá sé an-álainn.Yes, it is very beautiful.
- AoifeAn mhaisighfá an seomra i corcairghorm, a Oisín?Would you decorate the room in purple, Oisín?
- OisínB'fhéidir, ach tá an gorm níos fearr.Maybe, but blue is better.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “purple” translations and entries corcairghorm, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
