Word.ws English Dictionary

ceilidhean

Syllables: ceil·idh·eanUK/ˈkeɪ.li.ən/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈkɛjlɪjən/

ceilidhean is the plural of ceilidh.

Meaning of ceilidh

Noun

ceilidh (plural ceilidhs or ceilidhean)

  1. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive) An informal social gathering, especially one where traditional Irish or Scottish folk music is played, with dancing and storytelling.
    • The fire in the centre of the room was almost a necessity of the good old Ceilidh days. When the people congregated in the evening, the circle could be extended to the full capacity of the room, and occasionally it became necessary to have a circle within a circle. […] The circle became extended by...1875 December, Alastair Og, “The Highland Ceilidh”, in Alexander Mackenzie, Alexander MacGregor, editors, The Celtic Magazine: […], volume I, number II, Inverness, Inverness-shire: A[lexander] & W....

See all 3 meanings of ceilidh

Origin of ceilidhean

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cèilidhean.

Questions about ceilidhean

What is ceilidhean the plural of?
Ceilidhean is the plural of ceilidh.
How do you pronounce ceilidhean?
Ceilidhean is pronounced /ˈkeɪ.li.ən/ (UK).

Words near ceilidhean in the dictionary

  1. ceilidh
  2. ceilidh dance
  3. ceilidh dances
  4. ceilidh house
  5. ceilidh houses
  6. ceilidhean
  7. ceilidhed
  8. ceilidher
  9. ceilidhers
  10. ceilidhing
  11. ceilidhs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ceilidhean (page history and authors); ceilidh (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-ceilidhean.wav.

Cite this entry: “ceilidhean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ceilidhean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.