gaire

See also: -gaire, gairė, gàire, and gáire

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Frankish *waigaro. Compare Occitan gaire, Piedmontese vaire, French guère.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈɡaj.ɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈɡaj.ɾe]

Adjective

gaire m or f (masculine and feminine plural gaires or gaire)

1. (in negative or interrogative constructions) barely any, hardly any

   No té gaire diners. ― He hardly has any money.

Adverb

gaire

1. (in negative or interrogative constructions) barely, hardly

   No va dir gaire res. ― She hardly said anything.

Derived terms

• gairebé

References

• “gaire” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “gaire”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “gaire” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “gaire” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaɾʲə/

Etymology 1

From Middle Irish gaire. By surface analysis, gar +‎ -e.

Noun

gaire f (genitive singular gaire, nominative plural)

1. nearness, proximity

Declension

Declension of gaire

Fourth declension

Bare forms (no plural of this noun) Case Singular Nominative gaire Vocative a ghaire Genitive gaire Dative gaire

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Nominative an ghaire Genitive na gaire Dative leis an ngaire don ghaire

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

gaire

1. inflection of gar:
   1. genitive feminine singular
   2. comparative degree

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
gaire	ghaire	ngaire
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan gaire.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

gaire

1. barely, hardly

Old French

Alternative forms

• gaires, guaire, guaires, guere, gueres, waires

Etymology

Of Germanic origin, borrowed from Frankish *waigaro, related to *waigr (“resistant”) (source of modern German unweigerlich (“unevitable”), Middle High German unweiger (“not very”)).

Adverb

gaire

1. (chiefly with "ne") hardly; almost not at all

Descendants

• Middle French: guiere, guere
  • French: guère

Further reading

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (guaire, supplement)
• gueres on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Old Occitan

Etymology

Of Germanic origin, borrowed from Frankish *waigaro, related to *waigr (“resistant”) (source of modern German unweigerlich (“unevitable”), Middle High German unweiger (“not very”)). Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French gaire.

Adverb

gaire

1. (chiefly with "ne") hardly; almost not at all

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “*waigaro”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 17: Germanismes: S–Z, page 469
• “guère”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.