Irish twin
Irish twin noun: either of a pair of siblings born less than 12 months apart, especially if born within the same calendar year or school year or born one year apart.
Noun
Irish twin (plural Irish twins)
- Either of a pair of siblings born less than 12 months apart, especially if born within the same calendar year or school year or born one year apart.
- I'm the oldest, my brother, Dylan, is the next oldest—my Irish twin.” “Irish twin?” “He's ten months younger, what is referred to sarcastically as an Irish twin. My parents still live in the same flat in Dublin I grew up in. I haven't been home much the last twelve years or so. How about you...2014, Karyn Gerrard, His Wicked Celtic Kiss, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- Catholic twin
Synonyms of Irish twin
Forms of Irish twin
| plural | Irish twins |
|---|
Origin of Irish twin
Originally used (in the nineteenth century) to mock the fertility of Irish families, referencing the stereotype that they have children in quicker succession.
Questions about Irish twin
- What does Irish twin mean?
- Irish twin means either of a pair of siblings born less than 12 months apart, especially if born within the same calendar year or school year or born one year apart.
- What part of speech is Irish twin?
- Irish twin is a noun.
- What is the plural of Irish twin?
- The plural of Irish twin is Irish twins.
Words near Irish twin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Irish twin (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: En-au-Irish twin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “Irish twin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/irish_twin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.