Céad míle fáilte
When to use it Over a door, on a mat, at the start of anything. The welcome itself.
Word by word
Each headword links to its entry in Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (1977) on teanglann.ie; the glosses are quoted from it.
| In the saying | Headword | Dictionary gloss | Grammar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Céad | céad | hundred | the numeral; a different céad, “first”, exists. The fada spelling is shared, the meanings are not. |
| míle | míle | thousand | Ó Dónaill prints the escalation itself at this entry: “Céad, míle, céad míle, fáilte (romhat)”. |
| fáilte | fáilte | welcome | the entry runs from “welcome” to “salutation, greeting”. And prints the full formula with its translation, “a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, welcomes (to you)”. |
How to use it
The three-word form is the sign-and-doormat form: addressed to whoever arrives, one guest or a wedding’s worth, with nothing to adjust. Ó Dónaill’s printing adds “(romhat)” (“to you”) in brackets: spoken to a particular person the welcome takes that ending, and the dictionary’s bracket is the license for leaving it off a sign.
It is the hall print, the B&B’s first word, the top of a wedding order of service. For the toast once everyone is inside, Sláinte; for the door of a new house specifically, Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin is the companion piece.
Register: the warmest formula Irish has, and entirely public. There is no company it does not fit.
Where it comes from
This is dictionary-attested escalation, not greeting-card inflation: Ó Dónaill’s entry for fáilte builds the formula up in print, “Céad, míle, céad míle, fáilte (romhat), a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, welcomes (to you)”. And his entry for míle prints the same. Irish blessing idiom escalates numbers the way other languages escalate adjectives.
The same entry preserves the courtesy pair that keeps fáilte busy in daily speech (“thank you” answered with “you’re welcome”, tá fáilte romhat) which is why the word feels less like a slogan in Irish than its fame suggests.
The earliest attestation we can point at is Ó Dónaill (1977), s.v. fáilte and s.v. míle. The phrase is plainly older than its dictionary (it had a tourism career before 1977) but we cite what we can show and leave the rest unclaimed.
About this saying
The most famous welcome in any language, and genuinely dictionary-attested: Ó Dónaill’s entry for the headword builds it up in steps (a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand welcomes) with the “to you” in brackets after it. The hundred thousand is not inflation; Irish blessing idiom escalates numbers the way other languages escalate adjectives.
For the same occasion
- Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féinThere is no place like home.There is no hearth like your own. The ancestor of “no place like home”, with the literal fireplace still in it. The obvious housewarming print, and the right one.
- Go maire tú is go gcaithe tú éMay you live to enjoy it and wear it.The traditional words for handing over anything new. Said freely of a house. Choose it when the print IS the housewarming gift, given at the door.
- Go gcuire Dia rath ortMay God prosper you.May God prosper you, a blessing on the household, short and pronounceable at a threshold. Choose it when you want a blessing said at the door rather than a proverb about it.
- Is teann gach madra ag a dhoras féinEvery dog is bold at his own door.Every dog is bold at his own door. Choose it for the friend whose new house has gone slightly to their head. The funny one, and it knows it.
On a card, a speech, a print
Above a door, on the hall wall, or as the opening line of a welcome card. On a print the word fáilte takes the display type; the count sits above it.
Three words, three fadas: the doormat printers of the world drop them daily. If yours is being made, ask for the proof and count to three.
Questions people ask
Does it need “romhat” at the end?
Only when it is addressed to someone in particular. Ó Dónaill prints the ending in brackets (“(romhat)”, to you) which is exactly the licence signs and doormats use: the bare three words welcome whoever arrives.
Is a hundred thousand welcomes an exaggeration?
It is idiom, not arithmetic. The dictionary prints the escalation itself (a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand) as the way Irish intensifies a welcome, where English would pile up adjectives instead.
One guest or many: does the wording change?
No. Fáilte is a noun: welcomes are what is offered, however many arrive. Only the optional “to you” ending would change with the audience, and the sign form omits it.
How do I say it?
kayd MEE-leh FAWL-tcheh, one rising phrase. The three fadas each lengthen their vowel, and the t of fáilte softens toward “ch”.
Provenance
Where this wording comes from. We publish nothing we cannot point at.
- DictionaryÓ Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (1977)s.v. fáilte, printed "Céad, míle, céad míle, ~ (romhat)" glossed "a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, welcomes (to you)"
Sources checked 2026-08-30; page last reviewed 2026-08-31. How we source and review is on the About page.