Irish orthography is the set of conventions used to write the Irish language. A spelling reform in the mid-20th century led to , the modern standard written form used by the Government of Ireland, which regulates both spelling and grammar. The reform removed inter-dialectal silent letters, simplified some letter sequences, and modernised archaic spellings to reflect modern pronunciation, but it also removed letters pronounced in some dialects but not in others.
Irish spelling represents all Irish dialects to a high degree despite their considerable phonological variation, e.g. ("tree") is read in Mayo and Ulster, in Galway, or in Munster. Some words may have dialectal pronunciations not reflected by their standard spelling, and they sometimes have distinct dialectal spellings to reflect this.
Alphabet
Latin script has been the writing system used to write Irish since the 5th century, when it replaced Ogham, which was used to write Primitive Irish and Old Irish. Prior to the mid-20th century, Gaelic type () was the main typeface used to write Irish; now, it is usually replaced by Roman type (). The use of Ogham and Gaelic type today is restricted to decorative or self-consciously traditional contexts. The dot above a lenited letter in Gaelic type is usually replaced by a following in Roman type (e.g. → ).
Letters and letter names
The traditional Irish alphabet () consists of 18 letters: . It does not contain , although they are used in scientific terminology and modern loanwords. occurs in a small number of (mainly onomatopoeic) native words (e.g. "to quack" and "caw") and colloquialisms (e.g. for "chirp" and for "screw"). , when not prefixed to a word initial vowel or after a consonant to show lenition, primarily occurs word initially in loanwords, e.g. "hat". is the only letter not listed by Ó Dónaill.
Vowels may be accented with an acute accent (; see below).Learn Irish Rosetta Stone. Retrieved: 2020-06-21. Accented letters are considered variants of their unaccented equivalent, and they follow their unaccented equivalents in dictionaries (i.e. , , , ...).
English letter names are generally used in both colloquial and formal speech but there are modern Irish letter names (based on the original Latin names), similar to other languages that use a Latin script alphabet. Tree names were historically used to name the letters. Tradition taught that they all derived from the names of Ogham letters, though it is now known that only some of the earliest were named after trees.
In the table below, only bolded letters are used in Irish words. However, letters in italics are used in nativised loanwords.
Letter NameName (IPA) Tree Name ()Ogham equivalent NotesAa (pine)ᚐBb (birch)ᚁCc (hazel)ᚉDd (oak)ᚇEe (poplar)ᚓFf (alder)ᚃGg (ivy)ᚌHh (hawthorn)ᚆIi (yew)ᚔJjOccurs in relatively new loanwords, such as , , & . Typically represents , a non-native phoneme (see Irish phonology) and is substituted with in words like .KkOnly occurs in a few select unassimilated loanwords and international terms, such as , and is replaced by in integrated loanwords due to making the same sound; . is the only letter not listed by Ó Dónaill.Ll (rowan)ᚂMm (vine)ᚋNn (ash)ᚅOo (gorse)ᚑPp (gooseberry or thorn)ᚘSee . (dwarf alder)ᚚQqᚊOccurs in unestablished loanwords, such as and , but there is often an alternative where has been replaced with (). Typically represents . is also used to transliterate . Rr (elder)ᚏSs (willow)ᚄTt (holly)ᚈUu (heather)ᚒVvOccurs in many nativised loanwords, such as , , , & . It also rarely occurs in native words, such as onomatopoeia; "to quack" and "caw". It also occurs in colloquialisms (e.g. for "chirp" and for "screw"). Usually pronounced (broad), as in , or (slender), as in ; even though the sound is a native phoneme, the letter itself is a loan consonant, represented in other words by .WwAlmost never used.XxOccurs in relatively new loanwords, such as and , but often only at the start of word roots; at the middle and ends of words is replaced with or , like in , , or . Typically represents (broad) or (slender).YyOnly occurs in some loanwords as ,, and is nativised to in almost all assimilated loanwords like or . Typically represents (as a consonant). It can also rarely represent (short) or (long) (as a vowel). ZzᚎOccurs in relatively new loanwords, such as , , & Typically represents (broad), as in , or (slender), as in . Both of these sounds are non-native phonemes (see Irish phonology) and are substituted with in words like or , or in words like . is also used to transliterate .
Grapheme to phoneme correspondence In grapheme to phoneme correspondence tables on this page: "U" stands for Mayo and Ulster Irish, "C" for southern Connacht Irish, and "M" for Munster Irish. Initially and finally mean word initial or final unless stated otherwise. means silent, i.e. that the letter(s) are not pronounced. The IPA transcriptions of examples on this page are in Connacht Irish.
See Irish phonology for an explanation of the symbols used and Irish initial mutations for an explanation of eclipsis and lenition.
Consonants Consonants are generally "broad" (velarised) when beside and "slender" (palatalised) when beside . Irish orthography does not allow consonant letters or digraphs to be doubled (except in ); in compound words which would result in doubled consonants, they are broken up by a hyphen (see below).
Letter(s) Phoneme(s) Example(s)UC M b broad "take" (imper.), "broom" slender "mouth", "hemp" bh broad "took", "material", "blacken" (imper.), "side", "black" slender "mouth" (lenited), "common table", "rivers", "you" (pl.) See below for bhf(eclipsis of ) broad "window" (eclipsed) slender "wine" (eclipsed) bp(eclipsis of ) broad "hole" (eclipsed) slender "prison" (eclipsed) c broad "cheese", "son" slender "question", "sons" ch broad "cheese" (lenited), "chieftain, Prime Minister of Ireland"slenderbefore "poorer"usually "question" (lenited), "ten", "night" d broad "fist", "nest" slender "red", "part" dh broadinitially "fist" (lenited)elsewhere "luck" slenderusually "red" (lenited), "prophet"finally See below for . See Exceptions for - at the end of verbs endings. dt broadeclipsis of "treasure" (eclipsed)elsewhere "beaten" slendereclipsis of "country" (eclipsed)elsewhere "stolen" f broad "still", "graph" slender "wine", "stuff" See Exceptions in verb forms for -- in future and conditional personal verb endings. fh "window" (lenited), "wine" (lenited) g broad "boy", "soft" slender "gate", "rock" gc(eclipsis of ) broad "cheese" (eclipsed) slender "question" (eclipsed) gh broadinitially "boy" (lenited)elsewhere (male name) slenderusually "gate" (lenited), "way, manner"finally See below for . See Exceptions for at the end of verbs. h "hat", "the fish" (plural)j (loan consonant) "job", "jeep"lbroadinitiallyusually "lying (down)"lenited "blade" (lenited)elsewhere or "mouth"slenderinitiallyusually "lazy"lenited "baby" (lenited)elsewhere or "walk"llbroad poll "hole"slender coill "woods" m broad "big", "time" slender "sweet", "butter" mb(eclipsis of ) broad "takes" (eclipsed) slender "mouth" (eclipsed) mh broad "big" (lenited), "hands", "reading" slender "sweet" (lenited), "number", "poison" See below for . nbroadinitiallyusually "nine"lenited "notes" (lenited)after non initial cons. "women", "press"usually or "woman"slenderinitiallyusually "strength"lenited "strength" (lenited)after non initial cons. "sex", "skinflint"usually or (male name) nc broad "anchor" slender "dance" nd(eclipsis of ) broad "fist" (eclipsed) slender "red" (eclipsed) ng broadeclipsis of "boy" (eclipsed)elsewhere "ship", "tongue" slendereclipsis of "gate" (eclipsed)elsewhere "yoke", "vertical"nnbroad "head"slender "illness" p broad "hole", "stop" slender "prison", "trip" ph broad "hole" (lenited) slender "prison" (lenited) r broad "buckwheat", "fragrant", "cold"slenderinitially "king"before , , , , , , , "height", "stony beach", "corner", "visit", "east"after "string"usually "dry", "got"rrcarr "car, cart" s broad "England", "beginning"slenderinitially before , , , "sphere", "scythe", "blackberry", "string"usually "old", "cheese" sh "England" (lenited), "walked" t broad "treasure", "correct" slender "country", "two (people)" thusually "north", "below", "father", "kept", "eat", "learned", "chased", "swept"finally after a long vowel or diphthong "blossom", "harrow" ts(mutation of - after "the") broad "the light (gen.)" slender "China" v (loan consonant) broad "vote" slender "violin"x (loan consonant)/ks/xileafón /ˈcɪlʲafˠoːn̪ˠ/ "xylophone"z (loan consonant)broad "zoo"slender "Zen"
Vowels Vowel sequences are common in Irish spelling due to the "" ("slender with slender and broad with broad") rule, i.e. that the vowels on either side of any consonant (or consonant cluster) must be both slender () or both broad (), to unambiguously determine if the consonant(s) are broad or slender. An apparent exception is , which is followed by a broad consonant despite the .
The pronunciation of vowels in Irish is mostly predictable from the following rules:
Unstressed short vowels are generally reduced to . before or is silent, but marks a slender consonant. bordering either side of is silent, but marks a slender consonant. This is true for both long and short vowels. have multiple pronunciations that depend on adjacent consonants. Accented vowels () represent long vowels and in digraphs and trigraphs containing them, surrounding unaccented vowels are silent, but there are several exceptions, e.g. when preceded by two unaccented vowels. Accented vowels in succession are both pronounced, e.g. "sixth", "royal, kingly, majestic", "sympathy", etc. and are long before , e.g. "wild", "twine" A following lengthens some vowels. ⟨rr⟩ rarely ever occurs after a vowel other than ⟨a⟩. A following syllable-final or word-final may lengthen or diphthongise some vowels depending on dialect.