Pooka

//ˈpuːkə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A fairy that supposedly appears in animal form, often large.

    "The pooka had befriended the kindly old man."

  2. 2
    A convenient storage location or hiding spot created by the arrangement or form of surrounding objects

Synonyms

All synonyms
arielbansheebrowniedwarfelffairy

Example

More examples

"The pooka had befriended the kindly old man."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Old Irish púca (“goblin, sprite”), perhaps from a (nearly) identical Old Irish form, ultimately from Old English pūca (“demon”). Doublet of bucca and puck.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Hawaiian puka (“hole”).

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