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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

Irish.

The Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈaɪɹɪʃ//ˈaɪəɹɪʃ//ˈaɪɹəʃ/
  1. The Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.

    uncountable
    Irish is the first official and national language of Ireland.
  2. The Irish people.

    Many Irish are actually dark-haired as a result of the many invaders and migrants over the centuries.
  3. A surname originating as an ethnonym.

  4. A female given name of chiefly Philippine usage.

Where this word comes from

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 πῑ́ειρα (pī́eira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीव॑री (pī́varī, “fat”).

noun/ˈaɪɹɪʃ//ˈaɪəɹɪʃ//ˈaɪɹəʃ/
  1. A board game of the tables family.

    obsolete · uncountable
  2. Temper; anger, passion.

    US · uncountable
  3. Whiskey, or whisky, elaborated in Ireland.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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 πῑ́ειρα (pī́eira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीव॑री (pī́varī, “fat”).

adj/ˈaɪɹɪʃ//ˈaɪəɹɪʃ//ˈaɪɹəʃ/
  1. Pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people.

    Sheep are typical in the Irish landscape.
  2. Pertaining to the Irish language.

Where this word comes from

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 πῑ́ειρα (pī́eira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीव॑री (pī́varī, “fat”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.