Irish Slang Explained: A Friendly Guide to How the Irish Talk
6 min read
English has been spoken in Ireland for centuries, but it’s never quite been the same English spoken anywhere else. The Irish variety — properly called Hiberno-English — is shaped by the grammar and vocabulary of the Irish language underneath it, plus a national fondness for understatement, exaggeration and slagging. The result is a way of speaking that delights visitors and baffles them in equal measure. Here’s a guide to the essentials.
The all-purpose word: “grand”
If you learn one word, make it “grand”. It does not mean grand in the sense of magnificent. It means fine, okay, no bother. “How are you?” “Grand.” “Is the soup hot enough?” “It’s grand.” It can be genuinely positive or quietly resigned, depending entirely on tone. “I’m grand” can mean “I am completely fine” or “I am not fine at all but I’d rather not discuss it.” Context, as ever, is everything.
Words that don’t mean what you think
Plenty of Irish words are ordinary English with a local twist. A “press” is a cupboard. The “jacks” is the toilet. A “yoke” is any object whose name you can’t be bothered to recall (“hand me that yoke there”). To be “bold” is to be naughty, usually said of a child. To be “giving out” is to be complaining or scolding, not donating. And “the messages” are the grocery shopping, not your texts — though confusingly, your texts might also be called messages.
Praise and abuse
Irish English is rich in ways to say something is excellent: deadly, savage, mighty, class, gas (specifically funny), and the elaborate “the craic was ninety” (it was a brilliant night). It’s equally rich in affectionate insults: eejit and gobshite (fools), chancer (someone pushing their luck), cute hoor (a sly operator who always comes out on top), and langer (a Cork speciality). The same word can be an insult or a term of endearment depending on who’s saying it and how.
What’s the craic?
“Craic” (pronounced “crack”) is the most Irish word of all. It means fun, enjoyment, good company and good conversation, all at once. “What’s the craic?” is a greeting meaning “what’s the news?”. “He’s great craic” means he’s good fun. “We went for the craic” means we did it for the enjoyment of it. It’s borrowed, ironically, from an old English/Scots word “crack”, but Ireland gave it the Gaelic spelling and made it entirely its own.
Grammar with Irish underneath
Some of the most distinctive features aren’t vocabulary at all but grammar carried over from the Irish language. “I’m after eating my dinner” means “I’ve just eaten” — a direct calque of an Irish construction. “Amn’t I right?” uses a contraction English otherwise lost. And the habit of answering questions by repeating the verb (“Are you coming?” “I am.”) comes straight from Irish, which has no simple words for yes and no.
You don’t need to use any of this to be understood in Ireland — but knowing it makes the conversation a great deal richer. Have a browse of our slang dictionary for a few hundred more, and you’ll be sound in no time.
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