ugain

Welsh

Welsh numbers ^(edit)

		200
[a], [b] ←  10	[a], [b], [c] ←  19	20	21  → [a], [b]	30  → [a], [b], [c]
		2[a], [b]
Cardinal (vigesimal): ugain     Cardinal (decimal): dau ddeg, (optionally before a nasal or vowel) dau ddeng     Ordinal: ugeinfed     Ordinal abbreviation: 20fed
Welsh Wikipedia article on 20

Etymology

From Old Welsh uceint, from Proto-Brythonic *ʉgėnt, from Proto-Celtic *wikantī, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wih₁ḱm̥t, from *dwi(h₁)dḱm̥ti (“two-ten”).

Compare Latin vīgintī; also Cornish ugens, Breton ugent, Old Irish fiche.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales, standard, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈɪɡai̯n/
  • (North Wales, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈɪɡjan/
• (South Wales, standard) IPA^(key): /ˈiːɡai̯n/, /ˈɪɡai̯n/
  • (South Wales, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈiːɡɛn/, /ˈɪɡɛn/

• Audio

  (file)

Usage notes

• Despite being written as u, the initial vowel here is /ɪ/ in north Wales.

Numeral

ugain

1. (cardinal number, vigesimal) twenty

   Synonym: dau ddeg

Usage notes

Numerals which employ ugain as their final element, i.e. 21 to 39, use ar (“on”) to connect it to the preceding element, which causes an aspirate mutation, e.g. un ar hugain (“twenty-one”), pedwar ar bymtheg ar hugain (“thirty-nine”). Elsewhere in the language, ar causes a soft rather than aspirate mutation.

Noun

ugain m (plural ugeiniau)

1. twenty
2. (numeral) score

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
ugain	unchanged	unchanged	hugain
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “ugain”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies