Irish Slang
Irish slang and Hiberno-English decoded — craic, eejit, grand and everyday Irish talk with real meanings and origins. Properly sourced.
461 words
Mature content — open to view.
Cheers! Good health! (a toast)
A wheeler-dealer profiteer; the village loan shark archetype.
A cheeky or troublesome woman/girl (often affectionate)
Good morning.
Brilliant, class, or great — Irish for something seriously good.
Your ma — or any older woman within earshot.
'Right' in an exaggerated posh Dublin accent
Conversational opener — 'listen, I want to ask you something'.
Drunk; 'the gargle' is drink
Grumpy, bad-tempered, irritable
Bitingly cold and sharp (of wind/weather)
Awfully; very
Broken, ruined, or knackered — works for machines and humans alike.
A shared tenement passage or entryway
Please don't do that — a firm/comic request to stop
A large serving plate or oval dish
A tiny, cute thing, usually a small child.
A blockhead; a stupid person
A traditional bonnet worn by Cornish women.
No; not
That woman (whose name is unknown or unsaid)
An attractive young woman (Munster/Cork)
A turnip (swede); as in 'neeps and tatties'
To spin, whirl or twirl round
Soft, sticky mud or ooze
To scold, moan or complain at someone.
Old-fashioned or dowdy.
A troublemaker, fool or obnoxious person
A placeholder word for something whose name you forget.
The grocery shopping / errands
Very drunk
Exclamation of disbelief or astonishment
Small, little (Orkney and Shetland)
A small amount; a few
That guy — a vague way to refer to a man whose name you won't say or can't recall.
The perfect person or thing for the job
An English person (or, historically, a Lowlander)
Opposite to; facing; against
Notebooks; 'get yer jotters' means to be sacked