Irish

Syllables: Ir·ish/ˈaɪɹɪʃ/

Irish proper noun: the Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.

Proper noun

Irish

(uncountable) The Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.
- Irish is the first official and national language of Ireland.
The Irish people.
- Many Irish are actually dark-haired as a result of the many invaders and migrants over the centuries.
- America used to love dams... Yes, and we built those dams with ingenuity and brawn and, of course, piles and piles of dead Irish.2015 March 1, “Infrastructure”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 4, John Oliver (actor), via HBO
A surname originating as an ethnonym.
A female given name of chiefly Philippine usage.

Noun

Irish (countable and uncountable, plural Irish or Irishes)

(obsolete, uncountable) A board game of the tables family.
(US, uncountable) Temper; anger, passion.
- But her Irish was up too high to do any thing with her, and so I quit trying.1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Nebraska, published 1987, page 65
- Whenever he got his Irish up, Clancy lowered the boom.1947, Hy Heath, John Lange, Clancy Lowered the Boom
Whiskey, or whisky, elaborated in Ireland.
- 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.1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat […]

Adjective

Irish (comparative more Irish, superlative most Irish)

Pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people.
- Sheep are typical in the Irish landscape.
- A. Fink-Nottle: But it's absolute balderdash, Bertie. I mean, listen to this: "Sure and begorrah, I don't know what's after being the matter with you, Michael." I mean, what on earth is this "what's after being" stuff mean?
  B.W. Wooster: My dear old Gussie, that is how people think Irish people...1992 April 26, “Hot Off the Press”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 5
Pertaining to the Irish language.

Irish meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

Irish in Hindi

pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people: आयरिश āyriś

Irish in Tamil

அயர்லாந்து மொழி, அயர்லாந்தைச் சார்ந்த, அயர்லாந்துக்குரிய

Irish in Marathi

the language: आयरिश āyriś
the people: आयरिश āyriś
pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people: आयरिश āyriś
pertaining to the language: आयरिश āyriś

Irish in Urdu

the language: آئرستانی āiristānī, آئرش āiriś
the people: آئرستانی āiristānī, آئرش āiriś
pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people: آئرستانی āiristānī, آئرش āiriś
pertaining to the language: آئرستانی āiristānī, آئرش āiriś

More languagesFewer languages

Irish in Bengali: আইরিশ airiś
Irish in Gujarati: આયરિશ āyriś
Irish in Tagalog: Irlandes
Irish in Arabic: أَيِرْلَنْدِيّ ʔayirlandiyy, إِيرْلَنْدِيّ ʔirlandiyy, إِيرْلَنْدِيَّة ʔīrlandiyya
Irish in Malay: Ireland
Irish in Indonesian: Irlandia
Irish in Persian: ایرلندی irlandi
Irish in Thai: ไอริช, ไอร์แลนด์ ai-lɛɛn
Irish in Vietnamese: tiếng Ai-len, người Ai-len, Ái Nhĩ Lan
Irish in Myanmar: အိုင်ယာလန် uing-yalan

Forms of Irish

Noun
plural	Irish
plural	Irishes
Adjective
comparative	more Irish
superlative	most Irish

Origin of Irish

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”).

Phrases with Irish

101 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about Irish

What does Irish mean?: Irish means the Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.
What is Irish in Hindi?: Irish in Hindi is आयरिश (āyriś). See Irish meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Irish?: Irish can be a proper noun, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Irish?: Irish is pronounced /ˈaɪɹɪʃ/.

Words near Irish in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Irish (page history and authors); Irish (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); આયરિશ (Gujarati) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-Irish.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Irish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/irish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.