stað

Staí is an Irish-language noun that denotes state, condition, or status. In modern Irish, the word can refer to the general state of something, the circumstances surrounding a situation, or the standing of a person within a social or administrative framework. The sense is typically abstract and is common in Irish-language dictionaries, grammars, and literary texts. Staí is part of the native Irish lexicon and is not a loanword; it belongs to a semantic field around how things are, or how they stand, in a given moment or context.

In usage, staí appears in various compound forms and idiomatic expressions where the idea of state or status is central. It is more frequent in formal, literary, or academic Irish than in everyday speech. Etymologically, staí is rooted in older Irish vocabulary linked to the concept of standing or being in a particular condition, and it shares relationships with related terms in the language that express state, position, or circumstance.

See also: Irish-language dictionaries, terms for state and condition, semantic fields of status and standing. Note that dialectal variation can influence sense and frequency of use; in some contexts, other terms may be preferred to express more specific meanings such as social status, legal standing, or particular conditions.