Irish

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Irish edition of Wiktionary

Etymology[edit]

Middle English Irisce (12th c.), 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 *Īwerjū (“fat land, fertile”), from Proto-Indo-European *pi-wer- (“fertile”), from *peyH- (literally “fat”), akin to Ancient Greek πίειρα (píeira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीवरी (pīvarī, “fat”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Irish (countable and uncountable, plural Irish or Irishes)

  1. (uncountable) The Goidelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.
    Irish is the first official and national language of Ireland.
  2. (as plural) The Irish people.
  3. (uncountable, obsolete) A board game of the tables family.
  4. (uncountable, US) Temper; anger, passion.
    • 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Nebraska, published 1987, page 65:
      But her Irish was up too high to do any thing with her, and so I quit trying.
    • 1947, Hy Heath, John Lange, Clancy Lowered the Boom:
      Whenever he got his Irish up, Clancy lowered the boom.
    • 1997, Andrew M. Greeley, Irish Lace, page 296:
      The Priest is as fierce a fighter as I am when he gets his Irish up.
  5. (countable, uncountable) whiskey, or whisky, elaborated in Ireland.
    • 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men In A Boat:
      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.

Usage notes[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Proper noun[edit]

Irish

  1. A surname​.

Adjective[edit]

Irish (comparative more Irish, superlative most Irish)

  1. Pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people.
    Sheep are typical in the Irish landscape.
  2. Pertaining to the Irish language.
  3. (derogatory) nonsensical, daft or complex.
    • 1995, Irving Lewis Allen, The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech:
      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.

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from Irish (adjective)

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Cebuano[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From English Irish, from Middle English Irisce, from Old English Īras (“Irishmen”), from Old Norse Írar, from Old Irish Ériu (modern Éire (“Ireland”)), from Proto-Celtic *Īwerjū (“fat land, fertile”), from Proto-Indo-European *pi-wer- (“fertile”), from *peyH- (literally “fat”).

Proper noun[edit]

Irish

  1. the Goidelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic

Noun[edit]

Irish

  1. an Irishman or Irishwoman

Adjective[edit]

Irish

  1. pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people
  2. pertaining to the Irish language

Etymology 2[edit]

From English Irish. Also a corruption of Iris.

Proper noun[edit]

Irish

  1. a female given name
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