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Irish

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Irish edition of Wiktionary

Etymology

From Middle English Irish (12th c.), from Old English *Īrisċ, from Old English Īras (“Irishmen”), from Old Norse Írar, from Old Irish Ériu (modern Irish Éire (“Ireland”)), further origin heavily debated but probably from Proto-Celtic *Φīweriyū (“fat land, fertile”), from Proto-Indo-European *péyh₂wr̥ (“fat, swelling”), from *peyh₂- (“to swell; to be fat”), akin to Ancient Greek πίειρα (píeira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीवरी (pīvarī, “fat”).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Irish

  2. (uncountable) The Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.
    Irish is the first official and national language of Ireland.
  3. (as plural) The Irish people.
    Many Irish are actually darkhaired as a result of the many invaders and migrants over the centuries.
  4. A surname originating as an ethnonym.
  5. A female given name of chiefly Philippine usage.

Usage notes

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Irish (countable and uncountable, plural Irish or Irishes)

  1. (uncountable, obsolete) A board game of the tables family.
  2. (uncountable, US) Temper; anger, passion.
    • 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Nebraska, published 1987, page 65:
      But her Irish was up too high to do any thing with her, and so I quit trying.
    • 1947, Hy Heath, John Lange, Clancy Lowered the Boom:
      Whenever he got his Irish up, Clancy lowered the boom.
    • 1997, Andrew M. Greeley, Irish Lace, page 296:
      The Priest is as fierce a fighter as I am when he gets his Irish up.
  3. (countable, uncountable) Whiskey, or whisky, elaborated in Ireland.
    • 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat […] ‎:
      Harris said he'd had enough oratory for one night, and proposed that we should go out and have a smile, saying that he had found a place, round by the square, where you could really get a drop of Irish worth drinking.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

Irish (comparative more Irish, superlative most Irish)

  1. Pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people.
    Sheep are typical in the Irish landscape.
  2. Pertaining to the Irish language.
  3. (derogatory) nonsensical, daft or complex.
    • 1995, Irving Lewis Allen, The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech:
      The slur continued with Irish confetti, a popular term for paving stones or Belgian bricks that were laid in New York streets beginning about 1832.

Derived terms

Terms derived from Irish (adjective)

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

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Cebuano

Etymology 1

From English Irish, from Middle English Irisce, from Old English Īras (“Irishmen”), from Old Norse Írar, from Old Irish Ériu (modern Éire (“Ireland”)), from Proto-Celtic *Īwerjū (“fat land, fertile”), from Proto-Indo-European *pi-wer- (“fertile”), from *peyH- (literally “fat”).

Proper noun

Irish

  1. the Goidelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic

Noun

Irish

  1. an Irishman or Irishwoman

Adjective

Irish

  1. pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people
  2. pertaining to the Irish language

Etymology 2

From English Irish. Also a corruption of Iris.

Proper noun

Irish

  1. a female given name from English
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Middle English

Alternative forms

  • Irishe, Irisse, Ireshe

Etymology

From Old English Īras (“Irishmen”), from Old Norse Írar, from Old Irish Ériu (modern Irish Éire (“Ireland”)).

Pronunciation

Noun

Irish (uncountable)

  1. Irish

Descendants

  • English: Irish
  • Yola: Eeerish, Eerish

References

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