Galore

How to spell galore

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce galore

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does galore mean?

1. adverbIn great numbers or plenty; placed after the noun it describes.

Galore in a sentence

• The summer fair offered prizes galore for every age group.

• The new shopping centre has cafes and restaurants galore.

Where does galore come from?

Language of origin: Celtic

This word came into English in the early 1600s from the Irish phrase 'go leor', which literally meant 'to sufficiency' or 'enough'; 'leor' on its own meant 'enough' or 'plenty', and the related Scottish Gaelic 'gu leor' carried the same idea. English speakers heard the phrase as a single word and adopted it as a postpositive modifier, meaning it follows the noun rather than coming before it, as in 'bargains galore'. The sense shifted only slightly, from plain 'enough' toward the modern emphatic 'in abundance' or 'plenty and then some'. It is one of a small handful of everyday English words borrowed from Irish and Gaelic, alongside 'whiskey', 'slogan', and 'bog'. The unusual word order and the unstressed second vowel are the main reasons it can trip writers up, though its spelling is otherwise phonetic.

How the word is built

• galore (from Irish 'go leor': enough, plenty); treated as a single unit, placed after the noun it modifies