Word.ws English Dictionary

Mc-

/mək/

Mc- prefix: a patronymic used to form common Irish and Scottish names, similar to the English -son.

Prefix

Mc-

  1. A patronymic used to form common Irish and Scottish names, similar to the English -son.
  2. (derogatory, often) Used in combination with a non-name descriptive word to form mock names.
    • Mc- + shit → McShit
    • Mc- + stupid → McStupid
  3. Used to form the name of McDonald's products.
    • Mc- + griddle → McGriddle
    • Mc- + muffin → McMuffin
  4. (broadly, derogatory) Indicating a lack of depth or worth, by association with McDonald's.
    • Mc- + car → McCar
    • Mc- + church → McChurch
  5. (broadly, derogatory, humorous) Indicating an increase in availability or an increase in consumerism causing items to be more readily available.
    • Mc- + nuke → McNuke

Origin of Mc-

Abbreviation of Mac-, from Irish and Scottish Gaelic mac (“son”).

Questions about Mc-

What does Mc- mean?
Mc- means a patronymic used to form common Irish and Scottish names, similar to the English -son.
What part of speech is Mc-?
Mc- is a prefix.
How do you pronounce Mc-?
Mc- is pronounced /mək/.

Words near Mc- in the dictionary

  1. Mbyá
  2. MBZ
  3. mc
  4. Mc Donald
  5. MC's
  6. Mc-
  7. MCA
  8. MCAA
  9. McAbee
  10. McAbees
  11. MCAC

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Mc- (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:

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