taoiseach
Syllables: Taoi·seach/ˈtiːʃəx/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Ireland/ˈtiːʃəx/
taoiseach noun: a chieftain or leader. Also the alternative letter-case form of Taoiseach.
Noun (1)
taoiseach (plural taoiseachs or taoisigh)
- A chieftain or leader.
- Every diſtrict in the land, in which an Iriſh Taoiſeach or lord reſided, was obliged to entertain a Daniſh chief, to whom he was to ſubmit, and from whom he was to receive orders for the governing of his people; for theſe laſt would receive no commands, but directly from their own chiefs.1803, S[ylvester] O’Halloran, chapter III, in An Introduction to and an History of Ireland, volume III, Dublin: […] H. Fitzpatrick, […], →OCLC, page 163
- Unlike the English in their own country and in Ireland, who passed on land and political authority associated with it to the eldest male heir, the Irish elected their chiefs (taoiseachs) among the leading male members of each clan, and successors (tanistes) were chosen before the deaths of chiefs.1997, Lawrence J[ohn] McCaffrey, “Ireland: English Conquest and Protestant Ascendancy, 1170–1801”, in The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America, revised edition, Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of...
Noun (2) capitalized: Taoiseach
Taoiseach (plural Taoiseachs or Taoisigh)
- The head of the government of Ireland, comparable to a prime minister of a Commonwealth of Nations country.
- Article 28. […] 5. 1º The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach. 2º The Taoiseach shall keep the President generally informed on matters of domestic and international policy.1937 July 1 (date ratified), “The Government”, in The Constitution of Erin, Ireland, San Francisco, Calif.: Russell Quinn, published [1938?], →OCLC, page 22
- To cope with the situation created at home by the war so close at hand, an Taoiseach (Prime Minister [Éamon] de Valera) rearranged his cabinet and formed a Ministry of Supplies under one of his ablest men.1940 December 7, Arthur W. Bromage, Mary C. Bromage, “Ireland—What Now?”, in The Michigan Alumnus: Quarterly Review: A Journal of University Perspectives, volume XLVII, number 10, Ann Arbor, Mich....
Also used as
taoiseach is also the alternative letter-case form of Taoiseach.
Forms of taoiseach
| plural | taoiseachs |
|---|---|
| plural | taoisigh |
| plural | Taoiseachs |
| plural | Taoisigh |
| alternative form | taoiseach |
Origin of taoiseach
See Taoiseach.
Borrowed from Irish Taoiseach (“chieftain, leader; prime minister of Ireland”). The plural form Taoisigh is borrowed from Irish Taoisigh.
Questions about taoiseach
- What does taoiseach mean?
- Taoiseach means a chieftain or leader.
- What part of speech is taoiseach?
- Taoiseach is a noun.
- How do you pronounce taoiseach?
- Taoiseach is pronounced /ˈtiːʃəx/ (UK).
- What is the plural of taoiseach?
- The plural of taoiseach is taoiseachs.
Words near taoiseach in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: taoiseach (page history and authors); Taoiseach (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-Taoiseach.wav.
Cite this entry: “taoiseach.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taoiseach. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.