Borrowed Words
Imports that took root: Irish, Scots, Norse, French, Dutch, Latin - all welcome at the table.
Abú
/əˈbuː/ · interj.
Hurray. A rallying cry, especially in sporting and political contexts. Almost always after a proper noun: 'Up the Dubs, Mayo abú!' = 'Up Dublin, Mayo for the win!'. A condensed cheer rooted in Irish-language battle-cries.
Read definition →Amadán
/ˈamədɑːn/ · n.
A fool, but a particular kind of fool: not stupid so much as foolishly behaved. The word carries no clinical weight; it is the everyday Irish term for someone who has just done something silly. Often used affectionately.
Read definition →Arra
/ˈɑːrə/ · interj.
An interjection of mild disagreement, dismissal, or resigned acceptance. 'Arra, what would you know about it?' 'Arra, sure it doesn't matter.' Tone carries the meaning - the same word can mock, soothe, or shrug.
Read definition →Bockety
/ˈbɒkəti/ · adj.
Unsteady on its legs, wobbly, about to fall over. A bockety chair has one leg shorter than the others; a bockety table rocks when you set down a glass. Applied to objects and (less often) to people in old age.
Read definition →Bog
/bɒɡ/ · n.
Wet, peaty land - the soft, marshy ground that covers significant areas of rural Ireland and Scotland. Also (informal) a toilet, with the connotation of basic and rural. The two senses do not confuse each other in context.
Read definition →Boreen
/bɔːˈriːn/ · n.
A narrow rural lane, usually unpaved, often with a ridge of grass down the middle and hedgerows on both sides. Wide enough for a tractor and not much else. The road that gives directions like 'you'll know it when you see it.'
Read definition →Carlin
/ˈkɑːrlɪn/ · n.
An old woman - usually with some affection but occasionally with edge. The word names age and a certain weathered character. Now archaic; heard most often in older Ulster speech, in dialect writing, and in fixed phrases.
Read definition →Céilí
/ˈkeɪli/ · n.
A traditional Irish music-and-dance gathering. In its older sense, an informal evening visit by neighbours - 'going on a céilí' meant calling round for a chat. The dance-evening sense is the modern dominant use; the visiting sense survives in older rural speech.
Read definition →Colleen
/ˈkɒliːn/ · n.
A girl or young woman, especially an unmarried one. The anglicised form of Irish 'cailín'. Now a slightly old-fashioned word, found most often in song, in older fiction, and in the names of pubs and racehorses.
Read definition →Fáilte
/ˈfɔːltʃə/ · n., interj.
Welcome. Used both as a noun ('a fáilte was waiting for us') and as a greeting on its own. Almost universally encountered in the construction 'céad míle fáilte' - a hundred thousand welcomes - the standard Irish welcome-greeting now found on signs, pubs, and tourist boards.
Read definition →Fella
/ˈfɛlə/ · n.
A man, a guy, a bloke. The everyday Hiberno-English word for a male of any age. 'Your fella' = your boyfriend or husband; 'the fella over there' = the man in question. Distinct from 'guy' (American) and 'bloke' (British), with its own Norse-derived background.
Read definition →Flaithiúlach
/ˈflæhuːləx/ · adj.
Generous, open-handed - sometimes too much so. The word covers both unstinting hospitality and reckless extravagance: a flaithiúlach host is admirable, a flaithiúlach spender is a different matter. The judgement lives in the context.
Read definition →Fooster
/ˈfuːstər/ · v., n.
To bustle about ineptly. To fidget at a task. To make a great show of doing something without making much progress. 'He's been foostering with the boiler for an hour and it's no warmer.' As a noun: a state of fussy bustle.
Read definition →Gaeltacht
/ˈɡeɪltəxt/ · n.
An officially designated Irish-speaking area, where the Irish language is the everyday language of the community. Distinct from the Galltacht (the English-speaking rest of the country). Found mainly in Donegal, Mayo, Galway, and parts of Kerry, Cork, Waterford, and Meath.
Read definition →Gansey
/ˈɡænzi/ · n.
A jumper or pullover, especially a heavy knitted one. The word the standard English 'sweater' or 'jumper' replaces in Hiberno-English speech. Plural ganseys.
Read definition →Gardaí
/ˈɡɑːrdiː/ · n., plural
The Irish police. Singular 'a Garda'; plural 'the Gardaí'. The full title is 'Garda Síochána' - 'Guardians of the Peace'. Distinct from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which covers the six counties.
Read definition →Garsun
/ɡɑːrˈsuːn/ · n.
A boy, especially a young one in service - the errand-runner, the lad sent for the messages, the boy at the back of a shop. Affectionate in older usage; now lightly archaic but still in regular speech across the country.
Read definition →Glen
/ɡlɛn/ · n.
A narrow valley, often steep-sided and wooded, sometimes following a stream or river. The standard word for the small valleys of Ulster, north Donegal, and Scotland. Found in many place-names: Glenarm, Glendalough, Glencolumbkille.
Read definition →Gob
/ɡɒb/ · n.
The mouth, usually with the implication of mouth-as-noise-source. 'Shut your gob' = be quiet. 'Have a gob on him' = have a mouth on him, talk too much. Distinct from 'bake' (more Ulster) but functionally similar.
Read definition →Gombeen
/ɡɒmˈbiːn/ · n., adj.
A small-scale lender at exploitative rates; by extension, any mean, corrupt, or underhanded operator - often a politician. As an adjective, 'gombeen' describes the practice or the politics: 'gombeen man', 'gombeen politics'.
Read definition →Gra
/ɡrɑː/ · n.
Love, affection, deep regard. Borrowed straight from Irish 'grá' and used in English when the speaker wants the warmth of an Irish word for the feeling - 'she has a gra for the place' is fond and unmistakably Irish.
Read definition →Keening
/ˈkiːnɪŋ/ · verb (gerund), n.
The traditional Irish ritual lament for the dead - a prolonged wailing, sung or chanted, at wakes and at the graveside. As a verb: 'she keened for her husband all the way home from the church'. As a noun: 'the keening went on through the night'.
Read definition →Lock'a
/ˈlɒkə/ · n.
An unspecified amount, used to mean 'a few' or 'some'. Almost always in the construction 'a lock'a [thing]' - 'a lock'a sheep', 'a lock'a years ago', 'a lock'a money'. Functionally close to 'wheen' but with a slightly larger implied quantity.
Read definition →Lúdramán
/ˈluːdrəmɑːn/ · n.
A fool. A lazy or idle person who has done something silly. Stronger than 'eejit' and gentler than 'gobshite' - a lúdramán is a known idle character, not a person who has made an honest mistake. Almost always used affectionately or in mock-exasperation.
Read definition →Lug
/lʌɡ/ · n.
An ear. Plain everyday Ulster Scots usage. Heard in fixed phrases - 'a clip round the lug', 'keep an ear to the lug-hole' - and as a working noun. Standard 'ear' coexists; lug carries more bodily directness.
Read definition →Malarky
/məˈlɑːrki/ · n.
Nonsense. Foolish talk. Carry-on that the speaker does not believe and does not intend to engage with. 'Don't give me that malarky' = stop talking rubbish. Often spelled 'malarkey'; both forms current.
Read definition →Meitheal
/ˈmɛhəl/ · n.
A cooperative work party - especially one gathered to help a neighbour with a task too big for one family: cutting turf, bringing in hay, repairing a roof. The system of mutual unpaid rural labour that ran Irish farming life into the mid-twentieth century. Now also a metaphor for any community effort.
Read definition →Musha
/ˈmʌʃə/ · interj.
An interjection of mild emphasis or affectionate sympathy. 'Musha, it's a long road.' 'Musha, isn't it the truth.' Closer to 'indeed' or 'oh' than to a dismissive 'arra'. Often heard at the start of a sentence delivering a small confidence.
Read definition →Plámás
/ˈplɑːmɑːs/ · n.
Smooth talk. Flattery. The kind of charming, oily speech designed to get something from the listener - a favour, a sale, a vote. The plámás is the patter; a plámásaí is the person doing it; you do not necessarily trust either.
Read definition →Potcheen
/pɒˈtʃiːn/ · n.
Illicit homemade Irish whiskey, distilled from potatoes, grain, or whey, usually in remote rural locations and almost always at illegal strength. Now also produced legally as a branded spirit. The historical product was small-scale, untaxed, and famously variable in quality.
Read definition →Scrawb
/skrɔːb/ · n., v.
A scratch, a scrape, or a thin line dragged across a surface. As a verb: to scratch or claw. 'The cat gave him a scrawb on the cheek' = the cat scratched him; 'mind you don't scrawb the table' = mind you don't scratch it.
Read definition →Shoneen
/ˈʃəʊniːn/ · n.
An Irishman who imitates English ways, looks down on his own country, and seeks inclusion in English society - real or imagined. Pejorative throughout its history. The word marks a specific type of social-climbing that the speaker disapproves of.
Read definition →Skite
/skaɪt/ · v., n.
To splatter, splash, or shoot something forcefully. A drink can skite over the rim of a glass; mud skites up off a passing car. Also: to move at speed - 'he skited round the corner'. The noun 'skitter' means diarrhoea, with the same Norse-origin imagery.
Read definition →Sláinte
/ˈslɔːntʃə/ · interj., n.
The standard Irish toast: 'health!' or 'cheers!' Said when glasses meet. Also the everyday Irish noun for health itself - so 'do sláinte' is 'your health', and 'sláinte poiblí' is public health.
Read definition →Slew
/sluː/ · n.
A great amount. A large indeterminate quantity, usually of people or things. 'A slew of cousins', 'a slew of emails', 'a slew of complaints'. The implied quantity is more than 'a few' and more than 'a wheen' - a slew is conspicuously many.
Read definition →Slieveen
/ʃliːˈviːn/ · n.
A sly, untrustworthy person who operates by smoothness rather than force - all warm handshakes and quiet betrayals. The slieveen is not a thug; he's the one who would tell on you with a smile.
Read definition →Smidgen
/ˈsmɪdʒən/ · n.
A small amount, a tiny piece. 'Just a smidgen of butter on the bread' is a measured amount, smaller than 'a bit' and larger than 'a trace'. The diminutive is the point: smidgens are by definition modest.
Read definition →Til
/tɪl/ · prep.
To. As a preposition in Ulster Scots, used where standard English uses 'to': 'I'm going til the shop', 'gie it til me', 'come til my house'. The Norse-origin alternative to 'to', still in current Ulster Scots speech.
Read definition →Yerra
/ˈjɛrə/ · interj.
A Munster interjection meaning roughly 'oh well', 'sure now', 'I don't know'. Used to introduce a comment whose substance the speaker is not quite committing to: 'Yerra, who knows.' 'Yerra, it might happen yet.'
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