Focal an Lae: Uaigneas

Thursday, 8 October 2026

Uaigneas (OO-ig-nas) is the Irish for loneliness, a lonesomeness.

Bigger than loneliness. It covers the feeling of an empty house, of a quiet place, and of missing somebody, and it can be said of a landscape as easily as of a person.

Other days

Cnoc, the day before · Smidirín, the day after

A new Irish word every morning, 386 of them in the round, with the feast days of the Irish year keeping their own. Today’s word. More in the phrases, the names and the place names.