Word.ws English Dictionary

welsh

UK/wɛlʃ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈwelʃ/

welsh verb: to cheat or swindle someone, often by not paying a debt, especially a gambling debt.

Verb

welsh (third-person singular simple present welshes, present participle welshing, simple past and past participle welshed)

  1. (derogatory, offensive, sometimes, transitive) To cheat or swindle someone, often by not paying a debt, especially a gambling debt.
  2. (derogatory, offensive, sometimes, transitive) To go back on one's word.
    • "He can weasel out if^([sic]) it." Ibanez massaged her knuckles. "He can say Couch welshed on a deal, and didn't show, and that's why Karen got got. It isn't conclusive. I have another thing I can lay on him, but even the two combined won't do. We need a third smoking gun if we're really gonna...2023 September 28, HarryBlank, “Hooking Up”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 25 May 2024

Adjective (1)

welsh (comparative more welsh, superlative most welsh)

  1. (obsolete) Foreign.

Adjective (2) capitalized: Welsh

Welsh (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to Wales.
  2. Of or pertaining to the Celtic language of Wales.
  3. Designating plants or animals from or associated with Wales.
  4. (historical) Indigenously British; pertaining to the Celtic peoples who inhabited much of Britain before the Roman occupation.
    • The Tudors, it was argued, were of Welsh or ancient British descent.1985, Michael Wood, In Search of the Trojan War

Noun capitalized: Welsh

Welsh (countable and uncountable, plural Welsh)

  1. (collective, in plural) The people of Wales.
    Synonyms:
    Welshman
  2. A breed of pig, kept mainly for bacon.

Proper noun capitalized: Welsh

Welsh (countable and uncountable, plural Welshes)

  1. (uncountable) The Welsh language.
    • 9 minutes to 2. We just stopped to have our horses' mouths washed, and there all people spoke welsh.1832, Queen Victoria, journal, 6 Aug 1832
    Synonyms:
    Cymraeg, Cymric, Kymric
  2. An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname for someone who was a Welshman or a Celt.
  3. An Irish surname, a variant of Walsh.
  4. A town in Louisiana, United States, named for early landowner Henry Welsh.
  5. An unincorporated community in Ohio, United States, named for an early settler.

welsh meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

welsh in Hindi

वेल्श

welsh in Tamil

உலக மொழிகளுள் ஒன்று ஆகும், இங்கிலாந்தில் வெல்ஸ் பகுதியின் மொழி

welsh in Marathi

वेल्शिंग

welsh in Urdu

Welsh
کمری kamrī
More languagesFewer languages
welsh in Bengali
ত্তয়েল্স্দেশসম্বন্ধীয়
welsh in Telugu
వెల్ష్
welsh in Malayalam
വെൽഷ്
welsh in Punjabi
ਵੇਲਸ਼, ਵੈਲਸ਼
welsh in Gujarati
વેલ્શને
welsh in Odia
ୱେଲସିଂ
welsh in Nepali
वेलसिङ, वेल्सिङ, वेलशिङ

Synonyms of welsh

Forms of welsh

Verb
third-person singular presentwelshes
present participlewelshing
past participlewelshed
pastwelshed
alternative formwelch
alternative formWelsh
Adjective
comparativemore welsh
superlativemost welsh
alternative form (archaic)Welch
Noun
pluralWelsh
Proper noun
pluralWelshes

Origin of welsh

Sometimes held to derive from disparaging stereotypes about the Welsh, though firm evidence of this derivation is lacking. Compare gyp (“swindle”), probably from Gypsy, and jew (“defraud”), from Jew.

Inherited from Old English welise (“foreign”).

From Middle English Walsch, Welische, from Anglian Old English wǣlisċ (“Briton; Roman; Celt”), from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz (“Celt; later Roman”) (thus cognate with German welsch, Dutch Waals, Danish vælsk, Old Norse valskr), from *walhaz (“Celt, Roman”) (compare Old English wealh), from the name of the Gaulish tribe, the Volcae (recorded only in Latin contexts). This word was borrowed from Germanic into Slavic (compare Old Church Slavonic Влахъ (Vlaxŭ, “Vlachs, Romanians”), Byzantine Greek Βλάχος (Blákhos)). Doublet of Vellish. Compare Walloon, walnut, Vlach, Walach, Gaul, Cornwall.

Words formed from welsh

Phrases with welsh

41 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about welsh

What does welsh mean?
Welsh means to cheat or swindle someone, often by not paying a debt, especially a gambling debt.
What is welsh in Hindi?
Welsh in Hindi is वेल्श. See Welsh meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is welsh?
Welsh can be a verb, an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce welsh?
Welsh is pronounced /wɛlʃ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of welsh?
The past tense of welsh is welshed.

Words near welsh in the dictionary

  1. Welsby
  2. Welsch
  3. Welsches
  4. Welsford
  5. Welsfords
  6. welsh
  7. Welsh acre
  8. Welsh acres
  9. Welsh ale
  10. Welsh baseball
  11. Welsh bean

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: welsh (page history and authors); Welsh (page history and authors); Welsh (Hindi Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Welsh (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); welsh (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); کمری (Urdu) (page history and authors); welsh (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); welsh (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); welsh (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); welsh (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); welsh (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); welsh (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); welsh (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-us-welsh.ogg.

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