Deirdre
/ˈdeːɹdɹə//ˈdɪədɹi/
Deirdre proper noun: the foremost tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
Proper noun
Deirdre
- The foremost tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
- A female given name from Irish.
- Deirdre, it seemed to him, was the most beautiful name in the world. But Mrs. Stanley had different views on nomenclature. She had never, she declared, heard so utterly preposterous a name. […]"Theatre and saltpetre are both spelt that way, Arthur; depend upon it, it is Deirder - a sort of peasant...1885, Frances Mabel Robinson, Mr. Butler's Ward, Vizetelly, page 95
- His daughter was called Deirdre, a good Irish name, but now she signed herself Dee, and her man friend was called Fox.1996, Maeve Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different: A Christmas Treasury, Hachette UK, published 2008, →ISBN
Forms of Deirdre
| alternative form | Derdriu |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Dierdre |
Origin of Deirdre
From Irish Deirdre, from Old Irish Derdriu.
Questions about Deirdre
- What does Deirdre mean?
- Deirdre means the foremost tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
- What part of speech is Deirdre?
- Deirdre is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Deirdre?
- Deirdre is pronounced /ˈdeːɹdɹə/.
Words near Deirdre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Deirdre (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Deirdre.wav.
Cite this entry: “Deirdre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deirdre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.