Gael

//ɡeɪl// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of an ethnic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is one that is Gaelic.

    "For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad."

  2. 2
    a Gaelic-speaking Celt in Ireland or Scotland or the Isle of Man wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    An unknown-gender given name.

Synonyms

All synonyms
westman

Example

More examples

"A trout from the river pool, a staff from the wood, and a deer from the moor - "thefts" of which no Gael was ever ashamed."

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish Gael, alt. Gaol, from earlier Gaoidheal, cognate with Scottish Gaelic Gàidheal and Manx Gael, from Middle Irish Gaídel, from Old Irish Goídel (“Irishman”), a loanword from Old Welsh Guoidel (“wild man, warrior”) (also recorded as a personal name in the Book of Llandaff), from Proto-Brythonic *Guɨðel (“savage, woodsman”), from Proto-Celtic *weidelos (“savage, woodsman”), related to *weidus (“wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“wood, wilderness”) (cf. Old English wāþ (“hunt”)). Doublet of Goidel, unrelated to Gaul or Gallia. Medieval Irish traditions, including the Lebor Gabála Érenn, trace the origin of the Goídels to an eponymous ancestor, Goídel Glas, but this is no longer held to be the ultimate etymology of the word.

More for "gael"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.