noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈkwɑːltəx/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈkwɑːltək/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˈkwɑltək/
/ˈkweɪ(ə)ltəx/Isle of Man
/ˈkwɒltək/Isle of Man
1
noun
Meaning 1
The first person one encounters, either after leaving one's home or (sometimes) outside one's home, especially on New Year's Day; a first-foot.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: Isle of Man
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
PIE word *ḱóm Borrowed from Manx qualtagh, quaaltagh (“first person one meets after leaving the house; first person one meets on New Year’s Day”, literally “one who meets or is met”), from quaail (“act of meeting; a meeting”) (ultimately from Old Irish comdál, from com- (prefix meaning ‘with’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”)) + dál (“part, share; land in which a tribe lives”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh2- (“to divide; to share”))) + -agh (suffix forming adjectives and nouns expressing belonging, a connection to, having, or an involvement with). The interfix -t- may be modelled after an unattested form of Old Irish comaltae (“foster-brother; companion”).