Irish

//ˈaɪɹɪʃ// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A board game of the tables family. obsolete, uncountable
  2. 2
    the Celtic language of Ireland wordnet
  3. 3
    Temper; anger, passion. US, uncountable

    "But her Irish was up too high to do any thing with her, and so I quit trying."

  4. 4
    whiskey made in Ireland chiefly from barley wordnet
  5. 5
    Whiskey, or whisky, elaborated in Ireland. countable, uncountable

    "Harris said he'd had enough oratory for one night, and proposed that we should go out and have a smile, saying that he had found a place, round by the square, where you could really get a drop of Irish worth drinking."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    people of Ireland or of Irish extraction wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people.

    "Sheep are typical in the Irish landscape."

  2. 2
    Pertaining to the Irish language.
  3. 3
    nonsensical, daft or complex. derogatory

    "The slur continued with Irish confetti, a popular term for paving stones or Belgian bricks that were laid in New York streets beginning about 1832."

Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to or characteristic of Ireland or its people wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic. uncountable

    "Irish is the first official and national language of Ireland."

  2. 2
    The Irish people.

    "Many Irish are actually darkhaired as a result of the many invaders and migrants over the centuries."

  3. 3
    A surname originating as an ethnonym.
  4. 4
    A female given name of chiefly Philippine usage.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bad temperenglishginirish gaelicirish gaelicirish gaelic language

Example

More examples

"I hear you Irish are a bunch of drinkin' fools."

Etymology

From Middle English Irish (12th c.), from Old English *Īrisċ, from Old English Īras (“Irishmen”), from Old Norse Írar, from Old Irish Ériu (modern Irish Éire (“Ireland”)), further origin heavily debated but probably from Proto-Celtic *Φīweriyū (“fat land, fertile”), from Proto-Indo-European *péyh₂wr̥ (“fat, swelling”), from *peyh₂- (“to swell; to be fat”), akin to Ancient Greek πίειρα (píeira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीवरी (pīvarī, “fat”).

Related phrases

Anglo-IrishBicycle IrishConnacht IrishIrish BlueIrish Blue TerrierIrish EnglishIrish HobbyIrish baconIrish blightIrish bouzoukiIrish coffeeIrish cream

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.